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A Staffordshire table base group of 'Ale Bench', circa 1830-35 image 1

A Staffordshire table base group of 'Ale Bench', circa 1830-35 image 2

Lot 169

A Staffordshire table base group of 'Ale Bench', circa 1830-35

Vernacular Furniture, Naïve Art, and Textiles

23 September – 7 October 2025, 12:00 BST

Online, London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £1,280 inc. premium

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Anna Burnside

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A Staffordshire table base group of 'Ale Bench', circa 1830-35

Modelled as a woman holding a tray of drinks whilst her husband flails in a state of drunkenness, falling backwards and breaking a table, his ale glass spilling out over his waistcoat, their yellow chairs set before bocage and a turreted wall forming two spill holders, the sponged table base embossed with garlands and titled 'ALE BENCH', 18cm high, 19cm wide

Footnotes

Attributed to the 'Sherratt' pot bank, a similar group is illustrated and discussed by Myrna Schkolne, see 'Holding the Past, The William Herbert and Nancy Hunt Collection of Early English Pottery Figures' (2014), p.57. The group shows the destructive nature of drink in a society were the Temperance Movement was gathering support. A related 'Ale Bench' group shows a more measured and serene drinking scene, see the example sold by Bonhams on 23 June 2021, lot 106. A third related group titled 'Tee Total' shows a happy and 'respectable' family having tea and cake. This series documents contemporary concerns related to drunkenness and domestic violence in England's growing middle classes.

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