Staffordshire Pearlware Pottery Figures of Antony and Cleopatra

Prattware English Pottery Pearlware Tea Canister, Macaroni Figures, Possibly Bankfoot Pottery, Prestonpans. Scotland, Circa 1790-1800. The pearlware pottery tea caddy is decorated with "Macaroni" figures. On one side is depicted a gentleman wearing an exaggeratedly high wig with his servant standing beside him. On the other side is a similarly caricatured lady and her servant. The caddy was possibly made in Scotland at Prestonpans where plaster of Paris moulds were recovered during excavations. Plaster of Paris moulds recovered during excavations below the floor of the Belfield Pottery in Prestonpans and almost certainly dumped from the earlier Bankfoot pottery. Dimensions: 5 1/8 inches high x 3-1/4 inches wide x 2 inches deep. Condition: Good with a small firing line to the foot-see photo. The figures depicted on the tea caddy are modelled in very full relief and painted in green and brown. The narrow sides of the tea caddy are painted with a flowering vine. In the canted corners of the caddy is a stylized underglaze blue leaf. During the 18th century, "macaroni" was the satirical term for men who sported elaborate clothing and continental affectations. Lampooning various occupations and specific styles, these are reproductions of period cartoons. These amusing figures are after English caricatures produced between 1765 and 1790. The satirical jibes were directed at the young moderns of the time, known as "macaronies." A group of privileged young Englishmen adopted styles and manners they had admired during their travels in Italy and France. They formed the Macaroni Club (macaroni being virtually unknown in England at the time), an eating club where they vied with one another in matters of dress and manners. Extremes developed and soon spread into larger society. With ribbon-and-lace festooned clothing, prim-verging-on-prissy manners and absurd coiffures, macaronies (both male and female) were subjects of ridicule. Provenance: Private Maine Collection Reference: Haggarty, G 2010 ‘The Belfield Pottery Production Site Ceramic Resource Disk: The Northern Ceramic Society Journal Vol 26 (2009-10), 142-3 + CD ROM. Pratt Ware: English and Scottish Relief Decorated and Underglaze Coloured Earthenware, 1780-1840, John and Griselda Lewis, Page 234. Earle: The Earle Collection of Early Staffordshire...

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A fine, rare pair of figures in black basalt from the Neale Manufactory. The Neale pottery was founded in 1778 and ran until around 1792. They made very fine wares, and were on good terms with Wedgwood, with whom they combined shipments to the continent. For two similar figures marked for Neale & Co. see Diana Edwards, Black Basalt, Wedgwood and Contemporary Manufacturers, Suffolk, 1994, p. 208, figs. 313 & 314. Cleopatra and Lucretia are two women from different time periods and historical contexts, but are linked by their importance in Roman history, as well as by their tragic ends. Cleopatra was a famous queen of ancient Egypt, who ruled from 51-30 BC. She was the last pharaoh of Egypt and is remembered for her intelligence, beauty, and political savvy. Cleopatra was involved in a romantic relationship with the Roman general and statesman, Julius Caesar, and later with the Roman general and politician, Mark Antony...

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