The earliest figures of Bow are remarkable for their ambition and quality of detail combined with an attractive and well-vitrified paste.

This figure follows the popular porcelain tradition of depicting street traders but does not have an obvious source. It has been suggested that it is after one of the engravings of the drawings of Edmé Bouchardon as used by Meissen’s first cris de Paris series, but although close in spirit this is not the case. There is also an intriguing similarity to the series of Mennecy street traders that could conceivably have been in England at this period (Manners, 2007, p. 3, p. 436, pl. 24).

Condition:
Left hand lacking, chips to extremities, no restoration

Provenance:
Dawnay Collection, Albert Amor, 1991, no. 39

References:
For a coloured version with a companion see:
Frank Stoner, Chelsea Bow and Derby Porcelain Figures, Newport Mon. 1955, pl. 69, no. 69

Errol Manners, ‘Some Continental Influences on English Porcelain’, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Vol. 19, (2007)

Price: £4,000