Staffordshire figure
Most Victorian figures (1837 to 1900) were designed to stand on a shelf or mantlepiece and are therefore only modelled and decorated where visible from the front and sides.
Of the huge variety of figures produced, the Staffordshire dog figurine was the most ubiquitous, especially as a pair of King Charles Spaniels for a mantelpiece.
The setting is not church, as the usual name suggests, but a comfortable home or inn, where high-backed settles (protecting from draughts) were a common piece of furniture.
The pew groups were apparently usually shaped and constructed individually, built up from "slabs" rolled flat,[14] except for the hands and faces,[15] but otherwise moulds were used to form even the early figures.
Animals are more likely to be in salt-glazed stoneware, with green, brown and blue glazes the main colours, applied in broad strokes as highlights.
These included allegorical sets of subjects such as the Four Seasons and personifications of virtues, and portraits of notable figures, often as busts, could be finely modelled.
Like other Staffordshire wares, the figures were increasingly reaching the American market, shipped from Liverpool, and the Founding Fathers were well-represented; some of these were also no doubt sold in Britain.
It is sometimes called Saint Paul Preaching or Eloquence, and possibly was sometimes marketed as such, but the relief scene on the podium strongly suggests it was designed to depict the Greek orator who trained himself by addressing the sea.
Staffordshire figures document, in a unique and tangible manner, a particular aspect of the social history of 19th century England.
Manufacturers aimed to appeal to public taste, thereby leaving a physical record of the pursuits and interests of the time in a fascinating array of pottery figures.
Figures reminding townspeople of their rural past proved immensely popular, with images of idealised pleasures and pastimes.
Queen Victoria's collection of animals and her popularity with the nation resulted in an explosion of cats, spaniels, whippets,[23] parrots and others.
Portrait figures of the era[24] depict all the best known personalities of the period and no small number who were briefly newsworthy only to fade from memory.
Especially popular were those depicting figures involved in reforms, victories at war, hero's and heroines whose activities impacted directly on working people's lives.
Other figures celebrated scandals, murders, fashion, sport, and the life-transforming novelties of clean water and railways.
Lions,[27] giraffes, tigers, zebras and elephants generated huge excitement, popularised by travelling menageries.
