Exceptionally rare pair of pearlware pottery lions titled Wallace and Nero, Staffordshire pottery circa 1825

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£8750

Dated: 1835 Staffordshire England

This pair of important pottery lions are pearlware glazed and decorated in bright enamel colors. The lions are modeled with a paw resting on a sphere. The faces are anthropic, adding compelling decorative appeal. Significantly the bases are titled Wallace and Nero impressed on a yellow colored banner. The Lions formed part of Wombwell's Menagerie and, for a while, were used in baiting fights with bull mastiffs. However, Nero was such a gentle soul that he was uninterested in the attention of the fighting dogs, and Wombwell acquired another Lion named Wallace, who had a fiercer temperament. A stoneware sleeping figure of Nero rests on Wombwell's Tomb in Highgate Cemetery London.

Dimensions: 6.5 inches long

Current Condition: The tails are restored. Part of the rare remaining section of the bocage on Nero has been appropriately restored to maintain integrity, and the bocage on Wallace has been replaced.

Provenance: Private Collection England.

Literature: Page 155 Volume 3 Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840 by Myrna Schkolne and published by Schiffer.

£8750    $11812

Description

This pair of important pottery lions are pearlware glazed and decorated in bright enamel colors. The lions are modeled with a paw resting on a sphere. The faces are anthropic, adding compelling decorative appeal.
Significantly the bases are titled Wallace and Nero impressed on a yellow colored banner. The Lions formed part of Wombwell’s Menagerie and, for a while, were used in baiting fights with bull mastiffs. However, Nero was such a gentle soul that he was uninterested in the attention of the fighting dogs, and Wombwell acquired another Lion named Wallace, who had a fiercer temperament. A stoneware sleeping figure of Nero rests on Wombwell’s Tomb in Highgate Cemetery London.

Additional information

Dimensions 6.5 in