14 Apr 2010
10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street
Fine British Pottery and Porcelain
Back to auction 17811
Fine British Pottery and Porcelain
Back to auction 17811
An important St James' (Charles Gouyn) figural group
circa 1752
Representing the fable of the Fox and the Stork, a seven-sided baluster vase at the centre of the group, the stork standing to the left, using its long beak to drink the contents, the fox unable to do so, standing on its hind quarters to the right, its tongue protruding from its mouth, its bushy tail tucked between its legs, on a shallow shaped base, 14cm high (chip to fox's ear and extended firing crack in bird's beak)
Representing the fable of the Fox and the Stork, a seven-sided baluster vase at the centre of the group, the stork standing to the left, using its long beak to drink the contents, the fox unable to do so, standing on its hind quarters to the right, its tongue protruding from its mouth, its bushy tail tucked between its legs, on a shallow shaped base, 14cm high (chip to fox's ear and extended firing crack in bird's beak)
Sold for
£60,000
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Until the discovery of this lot, only one example of the group was recorded. Formerly in the Alfred Hutton Collection, it is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It appears in the Catalogue of 'Girl in a Swing' groups and figures prepared by Arthur Lane and R J Charleston in 1962. See ECC Trans, Vol 5, Part 3, p 143, item 23(a) and is illustrated by Elizabeth Adams, Chelsea Porcelain (1987), fig 5.17, p 56. Adams states that the group derives from an engraving in the Weekly Apollo of 1752. The only significant difference when compared to the present lot is that it has applied flowers and leaves on the tree stumps used to support the animals at the rear. Both animals exhibit the bulging eyes typical of the class, and the base bears the incised fingernail-like indentations also seen on the St James's sheep and lamb group in the Crane Collection, lot 72. Aesop's fable of the Fox and the Stork teaches us that one bad turn deserves another. This lot represents a major addition to the recorded products of this enigmatic factory
Category: Decorative Arts / British Ceramics
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