English Pottery Pearlware Figures of Sailors

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...

Massive Staffordshire Pearlware Pottery Figure of Venus, circa 1810 The extremely large figure depicts Venus, Aphrodite of the Classical Greek legend. This model is of great rarity. Venus, is superbly painted, depicted in purple robes with green edging as she rise from the foam of the sea The condition is excellent. Only one other example is known- see below. Dimensions: 24 1/4 inches high x 8 1/2 inches wide x 8 inches deep See: Myrna Schkolne, Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, Family, Friendship, Play, & Classical Subjects, Vol 4, Page 186, Figure 194.37 from the Collection of Arnold and Barbara Berlin, although this example is plainly decorated with a white dress with scattered flowers and a Greek Key border to the plain base. History of Venus Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Venus was born from the foam of the sea after Uranus, the sky god, was castrated by his son Cronus. She was carried to the island of Cythera by seashells and then to Mount Olympus, where she became the wife of Vulcan, the god of fire. Venus in Art Venus has been a popular subject for artists since ancient times. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman, nude or partially clothed, and is often accompanied by symbols of love and beauty, such as doves, roses, and apples. Some of the most famous depictions of Venus include the Venus de Milo, a marble sculpture from the 2nd century BCE, and the Venus of Urbino...

Vintage Niepold Borghese chalkware figurines of a peasant man & woman traveling pair.

A scarce and delightful pair Royal Worcester porcelain Chinaman figures made as part of a Down & Out series of figures produced as menu holders in 1874. The figures stand on a shaped...