A CHELSEA PORCELAIN CANE HANDLE

CIRCA 1749-50, POSSIBLY MODELED BY JOSEPH WILLEMS

Details
A CHELSEA PORCELAIN CANE HANDLE
Circa 1749-50, possibly modeled by Joseph Willems
Modeled as a head of a young brunette gazing slightly upward and to right, a molded garland of flowers enriched in colors and trailing along her neck between the tresses escaping the knot at the nape of her neck
2 7/8 in. (7.4 cm.) high
Provenance
With James A. Lewis & Son, Inc., New York, 1949.
The Elizabeth E. Stewart Collection of English Porcelains; Sotheby's, New York, 22 April 1994, lot 51.

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Lot Essay

The present model, possibly a portrait of the noted actress Peg Woffington, appears to be one of ten extant examples.

The exant examples other than the present cane handle are:

1: The example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London [Louis M.L. Solon, The Art of the Old English Potter, Derby 1885, pl. 11, last from the right].
2: The example formerly in the Radford and Irwin Untermyer Collections, now in that of the Metropolitan Museum [Yvonne Hackenbrock, Chelsea and Other English Porcelain, The Collection of Irwin Untermyer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1958, cat. no. 7, plate 70].
3: The example in the collection at Colonial Williamsburg whose curator emeritus, John Austin, attributed the modeling to the Belgian sculptor, active at Chelsea circa 1748-1760 [John Austin, Chelsea Porcelain at Williamsburg, cat. no. 99].
4: Von der Porten Collection, English Ceramics Circle Exhibition, 1948, cat. no. 283, plate 62
5: Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 18 October 1955, lot 121.
6: The example formerly in the collections of F. Severen McKenna and H.E. Marshall, Sotheby's, London, 15 October 1956, lot 28 [F. Severen McKenna, The Triangle and Raised Anchor Wares, plate 14, fig. 34].
7: Mr. & Mrs. James MacHarg; Sotheby's, London, 10 May 1966, lot 66 and again 14 May 1974, lot 176.
8: Mr. & Mrs. J.P. Raison; Christie's, London, 20 October 1986, lot 137.
9: Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 15 September 1992, lot 339.

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