Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 170
A pair of large Bow white models of a lion and lioness, circa 1750-52
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £7,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A pair of large Bow white models of a lion and lioness, circa 1750-52
Modelled recumbent on irregular rocky bases, their heads turned to the side, he with a rather anxious expression, his tail curled over his hind quarters and her tail under her leg, 29cm wide (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
With Simon Spero, 2017
Literature
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, p.93
Lions were modelled in various sizes at Bow and the production of such large and heavy models within the first few years of the factory must have been a challenge. Mary White refers to the large stone lions in the grounds of Chiswick House, to which these models may be related. Another similar pair is illustrated by Elizabeth Adams and David Redstone, Bow Porcelain, 1981, p.195, fig.122. Errol Manners and Anton Gabszewicz discuss three different Bow lions and a lioness in the Nigel Morgan Collection, see the E & H Manners exhibition, 2009, nos.33-35. A lion from the Dudley Delevigne Collection was sold by Bonhams on 17 June 1988, lot 17, and subsequently as part of the John Hewett Collection, see Albert Amor exhibition, 1997, no.6. Another lion from the Mavis Bimson Collection was sold by Bonhams on 14 December 2023, lot 299.