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Am important pair of Bow figures of Kitty Clive and Henry Woodward circa 1750
Sold for £25,200 inc. premium
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In the characters of 'The Fine Lady' and 'The Fine Gentleman' in David Garrick's farce 'Lethe', Kitty Clive carrying a small dog under her right arm, her elaborate dress trimmed with gold and painted with scattered floral sprigs, Henry Woodward standing before a plinth with his hands in his pockets, wearing a black tricorn hat, breeches and shoes, his coat washed in pale lilac and red and lined in yellow, 26cm and 27.5cm high (Kitty with minor losses to one finger, one sleeve and hat, Henry with crack to base and plinth) (2)
Footnotes
Provenance: Godden Reference Collection. Exhibited: Stoke-on-Trent Museum. These figures were modelled directly from source prints, 'The Fine Lady' from an engraving published in 1750 by Charles Mosley, based on a watercolour by Thomas Worlidge. 'The Fine Gentleman' is based on a mezzotint by James McArdell, after a painting by Francis Hayman. Most examples are found in the white, although some may have been decorated with cold-painted enamels and gilding. Coloured examples are extremely rare. The decoration on this pair is most likely to have been applied at the Bow factory but it is possible that the work was done by William Duesbury, working as an independent china painter in London. His London account book includes an entry on 24 June 1751 for the decoration of Mr Woodward and Mrs Clive at a cost of three shillings each. Another entry for 5 June 1752 refers to a single Mrs Clive at five shillings. These figures are illustrated and discussed at length by Geoffrey Godden, Eighteenth-Century English Porcelain, A Selection from the Godden Reference Collection, colour pl III, pl 19 and pps 24-28. He relates how he has known the figures for most of his life, as they stood in the drawing room of his childhood home.