EARLY 19TH CENTURY, ONE DATED 1813 IN GILDING, MOST SIGNED TO THE REVERSE EITHER CAROLINE OR JULIA LEIGH

The present lot provides a fascinating insight into the hobbies and amusements of ladies in Georgian England and is remarkable both from artistic and documentary perspectives. The styles and subjects relate strongly to the work of independent porcelain decorators, such as Thomas Baxter of London and Thomas Pardoe of Bristol, active during the first decades of the 19th century. Independent decorators were often journeymen who moved between the major factories or establish small workshops decorating plain porcelain or re-decorating earlier pieces of English, French and Oriental porcelain. These wares were often very distinct in style from those of the established factories usual lines and always in the latest fashion. The present collection from the gifted amateurs Caroline and Julia Leigh show a great degree of skill and understanding and were elaborate and time-consuming pieces to produce if somewhat ephemeral.

Given the provenance of the pieces the two ladies in question would appear to be Julia Judith Leigh, wife of James Henry Leigh and daughter of the 10th Lord Saye & Sele; and Lady Caroline Brydges, wife of James Leigh, daughter of Henry Duke of Chandos and mother-in-law of the aforementioned Julia. We are given an intriguing insight into the character of Julia from a correspondence between the novelist Jane Austen and her mother Cassandra, who visited the Leighs at Stoneleigh in 1806. In a letter Cassandra Leigh describes Lady Saye and Sele as 'rather tormenting, tho' something amusing, and afords Jane many a good laugh'1.

1. CLAIRE TOMALIN, JANE AUSTEN, A LIFE (LONDON, 1998), P. 199.