Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 146
A rare Bow figure of a pugilist, circa 1755
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£1,000 - £1,500
Ask about this lot
Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A rare Bow figure of a pugilist, circa 1755
The young boxer standing in a fighting pose, his fists raised in preparation and right leg striding out, wearing pink breeches, his white shirt, blue and yellow coat and black tricorn hat discarded by his side, on a low mound base applied sparingly with red and yellow flowers between his feet, 14.2cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
With Simon Spero, 2018
Literature
White, Mary, People at the Whites' House, Vol.5, 2024, p.268
A similar figure alongside his opponent from the Geoffrey Freeman Collection is illustrated by Anton Gabszewicz, Bow Porcelain, 1982, p.133, no.214. A shard of a torso from this figure was excavated on the factory site in 1969. Bow issued another version of the pair of pugilists in the 1760s on pierced scrolled bases, and these were enamelled in richer colours with gilt highlights. A pair from the Margaret Cadman Collection was sold by Christie's on 11 October 2002, lot 137.
Boxing became increasingly popular and well-organised in England from the mid-18th century. The London boxer John (Jack) Broughton was 'Champion of England' for twelve consecutive years until his defeat by John Slack in 1750, where the Duke of Cumberland famously lost an eye-watering £10,000 wager backing the older man. Interestingly, Broughton had been employed as a Thames Waterman, winning Doggett's race in 1730. Bow produced a figure of the Thames Waterman in the early 1750s to celebrate this familiar London sight. See the example from the Peter Bradshaw Collection sold by Bonhams on 24 January 2007, lot 42. After a twin career of ferrying and fighting Jack Broughton is believed to have retired to Lambeth where he became a connoisseur and dealer of curiosities and objects of vertu. See Raymond Yarbrough, Bow Porcelain and the London Theatre, 1996, pp.9-10. It is tempting and certainly not implausible to suppose that Bow figures of Thames Watermen and pugilists passed through his hands.