I am so excited at being able to show you this pair of pearlware equestrians because I believe they are the finest pair you will ever see.
Breathtakingly beautiful, are they not? Equestrian figures are so rare and desirable that restoration has to be tolerated. Yet this pair is in the most amazing condition. The male figure is perfect. Not a nick or a chip. Even the little spurs on the back of his boots are original. The female figure has the only restoration on this pair: the very tip of one horse's ear. And there is one repair: one horse's leg has been reattached. Note repairs consist of reassembling original material; restorations comprise adding new material.
Play the slideshow above so you can enjoy these figures from all angles. I am spellbound by them. The details--the loop on the rein he holds, those spurs on the boots-- the horses' beautiful heads, the painting on the bases, the soft black of the enameling that has never required retouching.....these figures simply amaze me. When I look at them, I dissolve into their time.
If you haven't read my book you may not know that these figures represent circus performers. The circus was born in the late 1700s, but it was not the circus as we know it today. Early circus performers were all skilled equestrians--both men and women. Initially, they staged trick riding acts, but performances quickly evolved into full scale dramatical re-enactments on horseback of events such as hunts and military battles. What of the lions and elephants we associate with today's circus? Well, if you wanted to see those you went to the menagerie! It was only later in the 19thC that menageries and circuses melded to give us the circus as we know it today..
If you haven't read my book you may not know that these figures represent circus performers. The circus was born in the late 1700s, but it was not the circus as we know it today. Early circus performers were all skilled equestrians--both men and women. Initially, they staged trick riding acts, but performances quickly evolved into full scale dramatical re-enactments on horseback of events such as hunts and military battles. What of the lions and elephants we associate with today's circus? Well, if you wanted to see those you went to the menagerie! It was only later in the 19thC that menageries and circuses melded to give us the circus as we know it today..
