Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 171
A fine Bow white model of a pug dog, circa 1752
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A fine Bow white model of a pug dog, circa 1752
The docile animal modelled recumbent on a rectangular cushion, looking over its left shoulder towards its hind quarters and wearing an incised collar, the elaborate cushion with an extravagant tassel at each corner and an incised pattern around the edges, 13.2cm wide
Footnotes
Provenance
Bonhams, 13 December 2006, lot 161
With Stockspring Antiques, 2008
Literature
White, Peter, 'Two distinct early Derby white groups of figures and some quandaries', ECC Trans, Vol.25, 2014, p.167, fig.7
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, p.37
Bow made several models of pug dogs, this being one of the earlier models inspired by Meissen. The accomplished modelling resembles that on the celebrated Bow models of Kitty Clive and Henry Woodward, suggesting that the same modeller may be responsible for these dogs, see lot 148 in this sale. A similar pair of pug dogs on cushions is illustrated by Elizabeth Adams and David Redstone, Bow Porcelain, 1981, p.201, pl.130. The right-hand example looks towards the tail, as in this lot, while the left-hand model looks towards the viewer. Another similar example was sold by Bonhams on 17 May 2017, lot 267. Two similar models lacking their tassels from the Geoffrey Freeman Collection, one white and one coloured, are illustrated by Anton Gabszewicz, Bow Porcelain, 1982, p.148, figs.246 and 247. For a different model of a pug by Lowestoft, see lot 171 in this sale.