We all recognize a pearlware tithe pig group. Such figure groups are, after all, relatively common (even if a good one is hard to find!), and it seems every pot bank had a go at making its own version.
The story behind this group is familiar: the farmer and his wife are offering much resented tithes to the vicar: one-tenth of all their produce, including their tenth child.
The pottery figure groups are after porcelain groups first made by Derby in the eighteenth century. The Derby groups in turn were inspired by a humorous mid-eighteenth-century engraving by Louis Peter Boitard.
The pottery figure groups are after porcelain groups first made by Derby in the eighteenth century. The Derby groups in turn were inspired by a humorous mid-eighteenth-century engraving by Louis Peter Boitard.
La Dime. The Tythe Pig, by Louis Peter Boitard after Müller, circa 1750
Although tithe pig groups differ in many ways, the figures lined up on the base are remarkably consistent in their appearance. Now focus for a moment on just the vicar. As you see, the pottery vicars all look like Boitard's illustration. Hardly surprising!
 |  |
I can always count on John Howard to find the unusual, and so it was this week that a lovely tithe pig group appeared on his site with, believe it or not, a different vicar.
John's tithe pig group can be attributed to the Patriotic Group pot bank--those distinctive bocage flowers substantiate the attribution. The vicar is unlike any other vicar on any other tithe pig group. Think a moment....where have you seen that vicar before? Well, he appears in the larger version of New Marriage Act groups.
Courtesy John Howard
My guess is that the potter assembling John's tithe pig group simply made a mistake!
Tithe pig groups also sometimes occur in the form of spill vases. Here you see a typical example, again with the usual trio of figures that you would also expect to see on a group with bocage.
Tithe pig groups also sometimes occur in the form of spill vases. Here you see a typical example, again with the usual trio of figures that you would also expect to see on a group with bocage.
Once upon a time, a good few years ago, John--and it would be John--had a tithe pig spill vase with yet a different vicar on it.
Courtesy of a private collector
The vicar here is large--almost ridiculously over-sized--but, sure enough, he is original to the vase. I have not seen him in any other group setting, but I know of one example of him as an independent figure. That figure is in the Hunt Collection, and it was formerly in the collection of the Rev. Benjamin Lake, whose really interesting collection of religious figures sold at Sotheby's NY about 30 years ago.
Courtesy the William Herbert and Nancy Hunt Collection.
Staffordshire figures are complex creations that leave ample room for displaying both their creators quirks and their outright errors. One is never quite like another, and some of the difference never cease to surprise. That, after all, is what makes collecting fun!.
