English Staffordshire Prattware Pottery Figure of a Stag

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Description

English Staffordshire Prattware Pottery Figure of a Recumbent Stag
Circa 1800–1820

This appealing hollow-bodied pottery model depicts a stag in … Read more English Staffordshire Prattware Pottery Figure of a Recumbent Stag
Circa 1800–1820

This appealing hollow-bodied pottery model depicts a stag in a recumbent pose, its legs folded beneath its body as it rests upon a naturalistic mound base enriched with modelled grass and foliage picked out in shades of green. The animal's coat is rendered with characteristic Prattware sponged decoration, the ochre-orange stippling applied freely across the back and flanks to suggest the dappled texture of a deer's hide, contrasting with the creamy white slip ground of the head, neck, and underparts. The ears are washed in warm ochre, and the eyes are carefully detailed in dark brown.

The antlers, rising in a multi-tined form above the stag's alert, upward-turned head, are modelled in the round and glazed in a deep manganese brown to suggest their natural colour. The hooves are similarly accented in dark brown. The base is of the compressed oval grassy-mound type characteristic of Staffordshire animal figures of this period, the scrolled and textured edges coloured in green. The interior of the base is glazed in the pale celadon-tinged glaze typical of the group, with a small vent hole visible, a standard feature of hollow-bodied earthenware figures to prevent explosion during firing.

Dimensions:
Height: 5¾ inches (14.6 cm)
Width: 6 inches (15.2 cm)
Depth: 3 inches (7.6 cm)

Provenance: Private Maryland Collection

Historical Context
Prattware is the name given to a distinctive class of English lead-glazed earthenware decorated in a palette of high-temperature underglaze colours — typically ochre, blue, green, and manganese — that were capable of withstanding the elevated temperatures of the glost firing. The ware takes its name from the Pratt family of potters at Fenton, Staffordshire, though similar wares were produced by numerous contemporary manufacturers across the Staffordshire potteries and in Yorkshire. Animal figures of this type, including stags, lions, sheep, and horses, were among the most popular subjects and were produced in considerable numbers for the cottage and farmhouse market during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

(Ref: NY1112-nrrr) See less