I overthink the concept of collecting. What drives us to collect as we do? Some people collect on a narrow theme, ignoring fabulous figures that don't fit. Others don't collect, they acquire. They buy anything and everything: the good, the bad, the ugly, the broken-beyond-belief. Believe me, I have seen it all: figures arranged so carefully by the decorator that if you move one you have to replace it on the precise spot; figures stacked so deeply in cabinets that you can't see a thing; figures around the edge of a bathtub; figures covering a kitchen cook top; figures under a dining room table, figures in attics, figures in basements. As I said, I think I have seen it all, and each time I wonder about the motivation.Looking around my shelves today, I realized something about my own collection. Every figure in it was there because I had waited for it. In other words, it was on my Want or Wish list. Acquiring it was the result of a hunt.
Admittedly, my first three purchases were random. Then I bought every book and old auction catalogue I could lay my hands on, I visited museums (even lugging a 1980s videocam to England for just this purpose), and I watched what came onto the market. From that, I learned what made my heart skip a beat. Those were the figures I was going to wait for---and I am still waiting for some. Admittedly, the odd item not on The List made it into my collection, but usually the figure was a minor one that I liked and hadn't seen before--and there are not too many of those. Well, the purpose of all this is to ask you to think about why you buy what you do. I can't be the only one tormented by these thoughts!!
A long time ago, The List had on it a rare figure titled WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES. I had spotted one at the Park Lane Ceramics Fair, on Jonathan Horne's stand, and marked SOLD the moment the fair opened. I simply loved it and told a dealer I trusted that I wanted that figure group SO badly. The dealer knew of one in a collection he had visited and told me that circumstances would bring it onto the market in time. Well, inevitably the owners, two elderly ladies, died. My heart leaped. Nasty? Hmm....maybe. But when I die, I hope a whole lot of collectors go "Yippee" at the prospect of finally getting something from my collection. How flattering! Then, I heard that the ladies had left their collection to the National Trust. Despair! Just when I thought all was lost, the Trust decided to dump the collection at auction...and my heart filled with hope again.
At last, viewing day arrived and my dealer went to view my coveted figure. Believe it or not, the auction house had broken it--a minor break, the lady's arm. My sorrow was tempered by relief that the arm was still there, not lost, and could be reattached. And in due course, WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES came home.
Admittedly, my first three purchases were random. Then I bought every book and old auction catalogue I could lay my hands on, I visited museums (even lugging a 1980s videocam to England for just this purpose), and I watched what came onto the market. From that, I learned what made my heart skip a beat. Those were the figures I was going to wait for---and I am still waiting for some. Admittedly, the odd item not on The List made it into my collection, but usually the figure was a minor one that I liked and hadn't seen before--and there are not too many of those. Well, the purpose of all this is to ask you to think about why you buy what you do. I can't be the only one tormented by these thoughts!!
A long time ago, The List had on it a rare figure titled WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES. I had spotted one at the Park Lane Ceramics Fair, on Jonathan Horne's stand, and marked SOLD the moment the fair opened. I simply loved it and told a dealer I trusted that I wanted that figure group SO badly. The dealer knew of one in a collection he had visited and told me that circumstances would bring it onto the market in time. Well, inevitably the owners, two elderly ladies, died. My heart leaped. Nasty? Hmm....maybe. But when I die, I hope a whole lot of collectors go "Yippee" at the prospect of finally getting something from my collection. How flattering! Then, I heard that the ladies had left their collection to the National Trust. Despair! Just when I thought all was lost, the Trust decided to dump the collection at auction...and my heart filled with hope again.
At last, viewing day arrived and my dealer went to view my coveted figure. Believe it or not, the auction house had broken it--a minor break, the lady's arm. My sorrow was tempered by relief that the arm was still there, not lost, and could be reattached. And in due course, WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES came home.
The two cartouches on this figure group are impressed WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES and CONQUER OR DIE.
Now is that not a figure group worthy of stalking? I almost used it for the dust jacket of my book. Doesn't its earthy colorfulness epitomize Staffordshire pottery? I know of only one other example on clawed feet. There is another variant of this figure and it is on a flat base. I know of 6 flat-based examples, three of which are in museums. I prefer the raised claw base groups, in part because the enamels are brighter on both examples I have seen, in part because the added height gives the group more pizzazz. But believe me, I would have grabbed either variant of this vary rare piece of pottery.
Today, most marriages end in divorce, but by the early 1800s there was still no divorce law in England. That's because at marriage a woman ceased to exist legally. Instead, she became one in the eyes of the law with her husband--and he could hardly divorce himself! Of course, then as now, all did not go well in English marriages, and the age-old battle for the breeches, captured in Staffordshire clay, is a pointed reminder that in those times death was the only release from a miserable marriage.
Another interesting feature of WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES is the cat in the foreground. Little dogs are very common on Staffordshire groups, but cats are few and far between. That's because in the early 1800s the cat was not yet considered a domestic animal. In many areas, cats were still associated with witchcraft, and only later in the century was the cat welcomed into British homes.
Today, most marriages end in divorce, but by the early 1800s there was still no divorce law in England. That's because at marriage a woman ceased to exist legally. Instead, she became one in the eyes of the law with her husband--and he could hardly divorce himself! Of course, then as now, all did not go well in English marriages, and the age-old battle for the breeches, captured in Staffordshire clay, is a pointed reminder that in those times death was the only release from a miserable marriage.
Another interesting feature of WHO SHALL WARE THE BRECHES is the cat in the foreground. Little dogs are very common on Staffordshire groups, but cats are few and far between. That's because in the early 1800s the cat was not yet considered a domestic animal. In many areas, cats were still associated with witchcraft, and only later in the century was the cat welcomed into British homes.
