Pair Staffordshire pottery pearlware figures of musicians with bocage

Reference: 5758

Dated: c. 1815 Staffordshire

Fine pair of Staffordshire pottery figures of male and female musicians.
The figures are decorated with good enamel colours and are very finely modelled attempting to emulate a porcelain body. Such figures have a charm and warmth far superior to the original figures they were copying.
The figures are highly decorative and distinctive.

Dimensions: 7.50 inch high

Medium: antique staffordshire pearlware figures pottery ceramic

Current Condition Very minor restorations

Literature: Re;Myrna Schkolne Book People,passions,Pastimes and Pleasures - Staffordshires Figures 1815-35. The musician figures are featured on page 237.
The book... a quote from Myrna Schkolne:
Enamel-painted Staffordshire pottery figures made between 1810 and 1835 are collected for their endearingly naive charm. But such figures are more than quaint knick-knacks. Each offers insightful social commentary on a bygone era. Some mark notable events; others depict scenes from everyday life. They tell tales that are always fascinating, frequently amusing, sometimes tender, and often brutally cruel. Figures of this period portray a world that has vanished. In many ways, 1835 marked the end of an age, and in later years new urban recreations displaced traditional rural pastimes. This book tells the amazing stories reflected in figures potted in the quarter-century preceding this watershed year and guides those who collect them.

Turning these pages opens windows into the past. Hundreds of figures look back, all decorated with bold patterns and deliberately painted swaths of color. Drinking binges and brawls, performing animal troupes, traveling menageries, and vicious animal baitings were once potted alongside sedate tea parties, village musical groups, romantic courtships, and blissfully happy families, seated as if posed for a photograph. The book weaves its way through England, seen through the eyes of Staffordshire's potters, in an era filled with change. Its rich text and superb images allow the stunning figures and their times to come alive within their social and historical context. A wealth of information makes this book an invaluable collectors' reference.

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