Pair Of Staffordshire Ceramic Dogs, England, 19th Century

PAIR OF CERAMIC DOGS
Staffordshire, England, Victorian period, 19th century
Dog dimensions: 24 cm x 13 cm


Pair of seated dogs in glazed earthenware, featuring King Charles spaniels facing each other. The coat, painted in russet brown on a creamy white background, is enlivened by highlights traced in barbotine, evoking the curly texture of the hair. The face, with its naïve, endearing expression typical of these productions, features a short, raised muzzle, a flattened black nose and large, round eyes with dark pupils rimmed with yellow ochre, slightly exorbited, giving the subjects that fixed, candid gaze typical of the best pieces in the genre. The long, floppy ears, treated in solid red, frame a rounded white forehead. Necklace and chain in light relief.

Staffordshire dogs - mass-produced by Midlands potteries from the 1840s onwards - adorned the mantels of Victorian interiors in pairs, mirrored on either side of the clock. The King Charles Spaniel, the favorite breed of the British bourgeoisie and aristocracy, was the model of choice.

While these figurines were reproduced well into the 20th century and continue to be so, the period examples are distinguished by the less uniform and less brilliant enamel of later productions, as well as by the minor flaws inherent in artisanal firing - slight surface irregularities, small enamel imperfections - which attest here to their antiquity.

It has become rare to find a 19th-century pair in such a complete state of preservation.

Work on view at the gallery (07240).
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