Don't we all love the quirky and peculiar aspects of Staffordshire figures? This pair currently in the stock of Aurea Carter fits the bill.
The coloring is daring, as is the man's very-eighteenth-century swagger and attire. And don't miss her fabulous eye make-up and eyebrows. The figures are intended to be a shepherd and shepherdess. She holds a lamb, his raised arm once held a crook, probably a metal one.
Last year, I blogged about this figure, titled SHEPPARD. He is from the same molds as Aurea's shepherd, but he isn't a bucolic gentleman. Instead, he is the notorious gangster, Jack Sheppard. You can read the story here.
In catagorizing figures for the chapters in my book, I never cease to be amazed at the array of shepherds. Dividing figures by subject matter is not easy. As you know, very many figures include a small sheep or dog or a musical instrument. So when is a figure a shepherd, when is it a musician, and when is it a person with a dog? In many cases, there is no right answer....but I have battled on and done my best. Among the many shepherds, I think this pair are really rather spectacular.
This is the only pair of shepherds in classical attire that I have been able to record. Yes, each holds a sheep, and they reside in the Potteries Museum. A similar single candlestick (creamware, unpainted, the male figure) impressed "Neale & Co" is documented, so perhaps James Neale made these too. The enamels are certainly typical of the Neale period of the 1780s.
A much, much humbler figure in my Shepherds folder is this little girl with a lamb. Appropriately titled GIRL AND LAMB, it was probably made in the 1820s. The model is like that produced by Ralph Salt and other potters of the period. What makes this little figure unusual are the loopy, daisy-like flowers on the bocage.
All the other figures with these daisies on their bocages are of this scale, and I have documented pairs for all of them....all of them barring one, that is. This strange little lion, formerly in Andrew Dando's stock, has yet to find his mate.
This lion (titled LION on the front of the base) has the sweetest, most animated face, but something went wrong in the firing. I think there were two issues. Firstly, the temperature was probably too high, causing the glazes to lose their glossiness--I think they evaporated in the excess heat. Secondly, dirt, perhaps from the saggar containing the lion, stuck to the glaze. You can see this mainly beneath the base.
Remember that in those days, there was not even a way to measure kiln temperatures, so mishaps of this sort might be expected. Despite this, I find the lion strangely beautiful, and he lives with me as a reminder that even a bad day can be salvaged!
I went to our farmer's market yesterday and stopped to talk to the local potter. She had promised to make me some additional mugs to add to some I bought last year. I listened as she complained about the impossible task of replicating the glaze color. Added to this, she is having trouble with her glaze bubbling. Today, glazes and clays are standardized, and kilns fire to a digitally pre-set temperature. Also, my mugs required just one firing--not the three that my little lion needed. How far we have come....or have we??
If you have a figure with loopy daisies on the bocage, please let me hear from you.
I went to our farmer's market yesterday and stopped to talk to the local potter. She had promised to make me some additional mugs to add to some I bought last year. I listened as she complained about the impossible task of replicating the glaze color. Added to this, she is having trouble with her glaze bubbling. Today, glazes and clays are standardized, and kilns fire to a digitally pre-set temperature. Also, my mugs required just one firing--not the three that my little lion needed. How far we have come....or have we??
If you have a figure with loopy daisies on the bocage, please let me hear from you.
