Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 147
Two Bow models of sphinxes, circa 1750
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£3,500 - £5,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
Two Bow models of sphinxes, circa 1750
By the 'Muses Modeller', both romping bare-breasted on boldly scrolled bases, adorned with applied jewels, wearing frilled bonnets and coloured caparisons edged with gold, their font legs and hind quarters picked out in gold, 22.5cm and 23cm high (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
Simon Spero exhibition, 2012, no.35 (right)
Literature
Yarbrough, Raymond, Bow Porcelain and the London Theatre, 1996, pp.49-52, fig.75
White, Mary, People at the Whites' House, Vol.5, 2024, p.62-63, figs.b and c
By long tradition, the face of these models have been said to be that of Peg Woffington (1718-1760), the Irish actress. The Woffington iconography is reviewed by Raymond Yarbrough, 1996, pp.49-52 and he concludes that both the models represent her. However, the faces exhibit different features and expressions. Both models are associated with the role of 'Phoebe', a pastoral opera by Maurice Green, published in 1747. The title role was played by Kitty Clive and subsequently by Woffington, great rivals at the time. Both had colourful private lives and were very much the big celebrities of their day. Whilst the face of the right-hand model relates closely to images of Woffington, the face of the left-hand model is more likely to be that of Kitty Clive, both in the role of 'Phoebe'. Another coloured pair is in the Katz Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. no.1988.590) and a white pair is illustrated by Peter Bradshaw, Bow Porcelain Figures, 1992, p.62, fig.6.