TWO STAFFORDSHIRE SALTGLAZED STONEWARE MODELS OF SWANS

CIRCA 1755

Details

TWO STAFFORDSHIRE SALTGLAZED STONEWARE MODELS OF SWANS
Circa 1755
Each naturalistically modelled hissing, head held slightly to the side on an extended, upright neck and the wings folded back, the beak open revealing sharp teeth and tongue, the finely plumed, press-moulded wings and chest protecting two closely-nestled cygnets tucked under its breast at each side, their little heads reaching up and back toward the wings, all supported on a simple, shaped oval mound base, the beaks and webbed feet enriched in brown pooled glaze
6¼ in. (16 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Purchased from Willoughby Farr, Edgewater, New Jersey, November 1930

Lot Essay

The present form is after the Meissen original by Johann Friedrich Eberlein, made for the Managerie at Augustus The Strong's Japanese Palace, Dresden, see Samuel Wittwer, Die Galerie der Meissener Tiere, Düsseldorf, Band I, 2004, p. 92, fig. 71. Also see Leslie Grigsby, The Henry H. Weldon Collection, English Pottery, Stoneware and Earthenware, 1650-1800, London, 1990, pp. 310 and 311 for two similar pairs of saltglazed stoneware swans, one in polychrome enamels, the other highlighted in cobalt-blue. The pair most closely related to the present lot and referenced as (181) was formerly from the collections Florence Clements, Irwin Untermyer, Wallace Elliot, Thomas George Burn of Rous Lench. This pair is also illustrated in R.J. Charleston and Donald Towner, English Ceramics, 1580-1830, A Commemorative Catalogue to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the English Ceramics Circle 1927-1997, London, 1977, no. 39; See Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1986, lot 25 for a comparitive saltglazed example. Also see an Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 2 June 1986 lot 25 for a saltglazed pair enriched in polychrome enamels.

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