19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details

FOUR STAFFORDSHIRE PORTRAIT FIGURES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Each standing before a tree-stump, holding a tricorne hat against his left hip, a document in his right hand, the one wearing a blue coat correctly titled FRANKLIN, two erroneously labeled Washington or General Washington, the 20th century example labeled The old English Gentleman
15¼ in. (38.7 cm.) high, the largest (4)

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Lot Essay

See P.D. Gordon Pugh, Staffordshire Portrait Figures, 1970 edition, p. B201, fig. 67 for a discussion of The old English Gentleman, clearly a figure of Benjamin Franklin with a variant title, this version dating to the 1850's when the United States was unpopular in Britain. To make the Franklin figure more appealing, Pugh theorizes that a clever potter may have re-titled it with the name of a traditional ballad, the sheet music for which was printed with a similar image.

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