Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 143
A fine Chelsea white model of an owl, circa 1748-50
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£20,000 - £30,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A fine Chelsea white model of an owl, circa 1748-50
The bird naturalistically modelled in great detail, its talons firmly gripping the irregular rocky base upon which it stands, 20.8cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
Bonhams, 8 September 2010, lot 63
Literature
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, p.188
Unlike the bird series produced at Chelsea during the raised anchor period, based on George Edwards' A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, the very few known bird models from the triangle period do not appear to have print sources. The striking ornithological accuracy of the present lot suggests it may have been modelled directly from life. See Paul Crane, 'Nature, Porcelain and Enlightenment: George Edwards and the Chelsea Porcelain Birds', ECC Trans, Vol.28, 2017, pp.47-8, fig.40, where another Chelsea owl is illustrated as fig.41. Related models are also found in saltglaze, creamware and at Bow, see Mary White, 2020, p.184 for a Bow version. A rather more slender Chelsea owl from the Red Anchor period is illustrated by Frank Stoner, Chelsea, Bow and Derby Porcelain Figures, 1955, pl.13. See also Arthur Lane and Robert Charleston, 'Girl in a Swing Porcelain and Chelsea', ECC Trans, Vol.5, Pt.3, p.120, where it is suggested that some Chelsea Triangle period models were directly copied by the St James's factory. Chelsea owls from the Triangle period are particularly rare.