Derby figure of a boy with flowers, unrecorded model, No. 35?, circa 1780

Sold

Derby figure of a well dressed youth in a turquoise coat, holding a hat filled with flowers to his waist, on a low mound base with supporting tree trunk to the back.

Incised ‘N 35(?)’

circa 1780

15cm high

Condition: restored hand, break across legs, hat brim touched up, the turquoise clumped & bubbled to the back.

An unusual Derby figure which is apparently not recorded by Bradshaw; N35 is the well-documented ‘Rustic Seasons’, and this youth isn’t a part of that scheme. However, there is probably a missing number after the 5 – where there is a kiln scar & some obscuring glaze. In this case, it would be 350 – 357. No. 358 is ‘Cupid disarmed by Euphrosyne’, and 359 is a well known ‘Gardener & Companion’ pair, but the earlier examples are ‘unknown’, ie no example recorded. In fact, the entire number series 335-357 is not identified.

Bradshaw notes the first figure list recorded by Haslem groups them all together as ‘twenty-five Spangler’s and Coffee’s Figures and Groups’ (the two main sculptors at Derby at that time). The second record by Bemrose states 351-3 is ‘Four quarters of the day’, 354 ‘pair of figures’, while the final 355-7 are not noted at all. This youth is therefore either one of the 354 ‘Pairs’, or the unknown 355, 356, or 357 figures.

 

Sold - let us find you another