A STAFFORDSHIRE PEARLWARE PORTRAIT BUST OF MARIA FOOTE

CIRCA 1825

Details

A STAFFORDSHIRE PEARLWARE PORTRAIT BUST OF MARIA FOOTE
Circa 1825
Of Sherratt-type, after a portrait bust by Enoch Wood, the Shakespearian actress modelled gazing downward, her hair in a plaited coiff, on a blue socle, the square table base moulded with floral swags above beaded bracket feet
11 5/8in. (29.5cm.) high

Provenance

With D.M. & P. Manheim, New York

Literature

Manheim, pl. no. 70

Lot Essay

See Oliver, p. 47, fig. 56; and Turner p. 132, fig. 48. Miss Maria Foote was a celebrated Shakespearean actress. Famous for her beauty and her scandalous private life, she is reported to have had two illegitimate children. However after a lengthy public court battle, she won a breach of promise action for the then enormous sum of 3,000 pounds. On retiring from the stage in 1831, she married Charles Stanhope, 4th Earl of Harrington, and became his Countess.

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