View Archive
Early Figures
I have always appreciated English pottery figures made between 1780 and 1840. They are wonderfully decorative and a prism for peering into the past through the eyes of those who lived then. Fashioned in an era before photography, they afford intriguing three-dimensional glimpses of the people and happenings of those bygone times. Although intrinsically delicate, they exude naive robustness and a colorful cheerfulness that charms. These figures are not just pretty and decorative objects, and they are also important historical artifacts documenting aspects of life otherwise passed and unrecorded.
Early English pottery figures are especially engaging because they reveal the full spectrum of everyday life in the 18th and early 19th century and often depict ordinary people engaging in everyday activitiesāstreet vendors, children at play, musicians, and gardeners are all captured in clay. Others portray meaningful life-cycle events, including courtships, weddings, and christenings.
Influential people are also fashioned in figural formāradical activists, religious leaders, politicians, military heroes, royalty, and actors and actresses, to name a few. The figures record events that influenced the course of western civilization, including the Agricultural Revolution, the French Revolution, the early temperance movement, and the drive to spread literacy. They allow us to understand what mattered to peopleāthe emphasis on classical figures that dictated the dĆ©cor of the day, and the host of biblical figures that reflect the centrality of faith. They invite us to ponder how far we had come from that not-so-distant time when barbaric animal sports were central to popular culture, and young waifs were forced to clean chimneys. Collectively, the figures document the people and events that shaped their era, and ultimately, the world we live in today.
Reference Books
- Myrna Schkolneās four-volume work Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, published by Schiffer Publishing, is an ambitious effort to catalog and attribute the enormous body of early enamel-painted pottery figures made in the Staffordshire Potteries during the Industrial Revolution. Within their color-packed pages, over 4,000 images afford engaging glimpses of a vanished world. These volumes pay tribute to the pottersā work and importantly, Myrnaās ground-breaking work on attributions will provide an enduring foundation of knowledge for museums and collectors.
Showing 49–64 of 113 results
-
Early 19th century miniature pearlware Toby Jug Staffordshire Pottery
£385$519
-
Two Staffordshire pottery pearlware glazed hound head stirrup cups circa 1820
£1650$2227
-
Staffordshire pottery pearlware figure of a leopard circa 1820 antique period
£1850$2497
-
British pottery pearlware oval box with lion recumbent on cover early 19th century
£985$1329
-
Fox head pearlware glazed and enamel coloured stirrup Staffordshire circa 1820
£845$1140
-
English pottery figure of Saint George slaying the Dragon antique period c1790/1800
£1950$2632
-
English late 18th century creamware bodied figure of a long horn cow circa 1785
£1500$2025
-
Staffordshire pottery figure group of the Pig Tithe pearlware glaze early 19th century
£1175$1586
-
Monumental pottery pearlware figure of Demosthenes Enoch Wood Staffordshire circa 1800
£4450$6007
-
English pottery pearlware figure of dappled red and black horse circa 1810
£2750$3712
-
English pottery figure of a dapple grey horse from the St Anthony’s Pottery circa 1810
£2850$3847
-
ANTIQUE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERY PEARLWARE FIGURE OF A LION c1820 WITH SPECTACULAR BASE
£3350$4522
-
Staffordshire pottery lion pen holder modeled recumbent on a brown base Staffordshire circa 1820
£1850$2497
-
Two diminutive pottery figures of The Dandies circa 1830 North East or Scotland
£785$1059
-
Pair of pearlware table base figures of Venus and Neptune Staffordshire c1820
£3450$4657
-
English pottery cow creamer with brown and blue sponge decoration c1800
£1100$1485