This equestrian figure with raised sabre has sometimes been identified as George II at the Battle of Dettingen on 27 June 1743, the last occasion that a reigning British monarch led his troops in person into battle.
King George II at the Battle of Dettingen, 27 June 1743
By John Wootton, National Army Museum (1961-07-116-1)
We consider this identification with George II quite probable since our figure wears the sash and star of the Order of the Garter which limits the identification to the immediate circle of the King, and the saddle cloth is incised GR. The King displayed great personal courage in the battle which brought him huge popularity at home.
Creamware bowl attributed to Enoch Booth, Tunstall, dated 1743, The Potteries Museum, Stoke on Trent
The King is also celebrated on the famous creamware bowl dated 1743, the earliest dated piece of English creamware.[i]
Another almost identical figure to ours, formerly in the Andrade and Paine Collections, was sold Christie’s New York, 27 October 1988, lot 14 and illustrated by Jonathan Horne in ‘A collection of Early English Pottery’, Pt. IX, no. 244. Horne dated this 1760-70, whilst another similar figure with mottled manganese and green decoration in the Glaisher Collection, in the Fitzwilliam Museum, on the same shaped base, was dated by Bernard Rackham to circa 1750. [ii] This is accompanied by moustachioed officer in the uniform of a Hussar.[iii] We think a slightly earlier date is possible.
The Glaisher Collection, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
We are grateful to Anton Gabszewicz for his assistance with this description.
Condition:
Restoration to his left arm above the elbow and beneath the shoulder. Minute chips to edge of base and hat. Horses tail reattached. Restoration to one stirrup, the ear of the horse and his right wrist
Provenance:
Rous Lench Collection, Christie’s London, 29 May 1990, lot 105
The Stanley F. Goldfein Collection, Dreweatts, 27 June 2024, lot 1019
References:
Horne
Jonathan Horne, ‘A collection of Early English Pottery’, Pt. IX
Rackham 1935
Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of The Glaisher Collection of Pottery & Porcelain in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, 1935 (reprinted 1987)
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[i] There is also the bowl of similar manufacture inscribed EB 1743 in the British Museum. Franks Collection, 1987 MLA Pottery Cat H 41
[ii] Rackham 1935 no. 825 & 826.
[iii] Another version of the Hussar holding a Marshal’s baton is in the potteries Museum, Stoke on Trent Thomas Twyford bequest 3007
Price: £25,000
