A STAFFORDSHIRE PEARLWARE FIGURE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

CIRCA 1820-1825, INCISED P.V. AT THE BACK OF THE PEDESTAL

細節

A STAFFORDSHIRE PEARLWARE FIGURE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
CIRCA 1820-1825, incised P.V. at the back of the pedestal
The playwright wearing a yellow-lined pink cloak, ochre doublet, and iron-red breeches, leaning against books piled atop the pedestal at his right, its angles with portrait masks of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry V and Richard III, pointing with his left index finger to a scroll inscribed with verses from A Midsummer Night's Dream
17 7/8 in. (45.5 cm.) high

拍品專文

The pose of the great English playwright is closely related to the statue of Shakespeare in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey, designed by William Kent and executed by Peter Scheemakers in 1740, 124 years after the Bard's death (M. Whinney, Sculpture in Britain 1530-1830, rev. ed. 1988, fig. 130, p. 190). Figures such as the present pearlware example were produced throughout the 19th century in a variety of materials, including pearlware, porcelain, parian, wood and cardboard. A variant example, depicting the actor Sampson Smith as the Bard leaning on books atop a column but with his left hand on his hip was produced in Staffordshire circa 1864. See Paul Atterbury (ed.), The Parian Phenomenon, A Survey of Victorian Parian Porcelain Statuary & Busts, (1989), p. 86, fig. 133 for the parian version modeled by John Bell.