Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 141
A very rare Chelsea white model of a Butcher Bird, circa 1749-52
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A very rare Chelsea white model of a Butcher Bird, circa 1749-52
The bird naturalistically modelled perched on a stump, its mouth open as if to sing, groups of leaves applied just below, 17.3cm high, raised anchor mark
Footnotes
Provenance
Mr and Mrs James McGregor Stewart Collection, Sotheby's, 13 November 1973, lot 86
With Winifred Williams
Christie's, 2 November 2011, lot 323
Literature
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, p.189
Birds on branches are amongst the most appealing of the Chelsea factory's early output. Models such as this typically have print sources, whereas those from the earlier Triangle period may have been modelled from life, see for example lot 143 in this sale. The present lot depicts a Crested Red or Russit Butcher Bird, also known as the Indian Crested Butcher Bird, but today known as a Brown Shrike. They were sometimes known as 'Butcher Birds' owing to their feeding habits. The source print is taken from George Edwards' A Natural History of Birds, Vol.2, 1747, pl.54, drawn in May 1742, see Paul Crane, 'Nature, Porcelain and Enlightenment: George Edwards and the Chelsea Porcelain Birds', ECC Trans, Vol.28, 2017, p.45, fig.35. Edwards states how 'This bird was sent from Bengal, to Mr Dandridge in Moorfields, London. It is called in its native Country, Charah.' An enamelled version from the Lady Charlotte Schreiber Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no.414:216-1885), with colouring closely following the source print, is illustrated on p.46, fig.36 and also by F Severne Mackenna, Chelsea Porcelain: The Triangle and Raised Anchor Wares, 1948, pl.35, no.71. Mary White suggests that these models may have been intended to decorate the dessert table.