Lot Essay
According to Mr. Horne, the present plaque is unique, although both the figure of the Turk and the model of the elephant are known in the round (Captain R.K. Price, Astbury Whieldon and Ralph Wood Figures and Toby Jugs, plate XXIV, figs. 16, 22). In adapting the models to high relief, the position of the Turk's left and right arms have been switched and his coat shortened. The saddle and straps have been added.
A pair of hawk plaques almost certainly by the same hand is in the Henry H. Weldon Collection. See Leslie B. Grigsby, English Pottery: Earthenware and Stoneware 1680-1800, The Henry H. Weldon Collection, London, 1990, no. 141 for a detailed discussion of these two pieces and their dating, based on the discovery of coloured glazes by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759.
A pair of hawk plaques almost certainly by the same hand is in the Henry H. Weldon Collection. See Leslie B. Grigsby, English Pottery: Earthenware and Stoneware 1680-1800, The Henry H. Weldon Collection, London, 1990, no. 141 for a detailed discussion of these two pieces and their dating, based on the discovery of coloured glazes by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759.