I am a sucker for Staffordshire pottery figures of dandies--and, while I am admitting my susceptibilities, I must add that I also get a thrill from finding an unrecorded figure, even more so if it has a maker's mark! All this came together recently in this tiny pair of dandies. While the form is not partticularly unusual, the fact that the figure has the rare mark of the potter Charles Tittensor makes it very special. Until it turned up, I had no idea that Tittensor made tiny dandies.
| The Tittensor mark is impressed into the pottery body within the unpainted (white) rectangle on the reverse |  |
I happen to have another pair of dandies made from the very same molds (but made without a bocage.) As you see below, that pair has SALT, the mark of Ralph Salt, impressed on the reverse.
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We know that potters made figures from common mold forms, so it is not surprising that both Tittensor and Salt made look-alike tiny dandies. But the instant I glimpsed the Tittensor couple, I knew they were made by Tittensor, even before seeing the mark. The clue is in three of the four little flowers. I show one below.
The flowers have twelve petals (six slightly longer ones alternating with six slightly shorter ones.) Both the potters John Dale and Charles Tittensor used this distinctive flower form, but the dandies I discovered are quite atypical of Dale---in any event, I have already recorded a small pair that I attribute to Dale (below). By process of elimination, I concluded Tittensor made the pair at the top of this post, and, of course, the mark on the back confirmed my conclusion.
The Tittensor dandies are an important addition to my records because this tiny pair brings to five the number of marked Tittensor enamel-painted figures on record (in addition to an enamel-painted bust of Czar Alexander). Below are the others four. The little deer is in the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, and the remaining figures are in two private collections.
As you see, all but one of these marked Tittensor figures have bocages, and the bocage flower is consistently that distinctive twelve-petalled flower.
Tittensor is better known for figures decorated in underglaze colors. Although they are rare, these figures are distinctive for their crude style, which is markedly different from the effect of the enamel-painted figures. Below is a typical Tittensor underglaze figure group. Everything about it is in sharp contrast to the enamel-painted Tittensor figures. Even the bocage flowers are quite different.
Tittensor is better known for figures decorated in underglaze colors. Although they are rare, these figures are distinctive for their crude style, which is markedly different from the effect of the enamel-painted figures. Below is a typical Tittensor underglaze figure group. Everything about it is in sharp contrast to the enamel-painted Tittensor figures. Even the bocage flowers are quite different.
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The Tittensor enamel-painted and underglaze-decorated figures are so different that it is tempting to think that there were two Tittensors at work. I don't believe this is the explanation. Rather, I believe Tittensor changed his style at some point in his career, abandoning underglaze figures to instead make the enamel-painted figures the market came to prefer.
Of course, it's possible that Tittensor made both types of figures simultaneoulsy, but I think it more likely that his decorating style evolved to meet market tastes. We shall never know the truth. If you want to know more about Tittensore, please look at Paul Tittensor's site documenting the work of his ancestor.
Of course, it's possible that Tittensor made both types of figures simultaneoulsy, but I think it more likely that his decorating style evolved to meet market tastes. We shall never know the truth. If you want to know more about Tittensore, please look at Paul Tittensor's site documenting the work of his ancestor.
