English Lead-glazed Earthenware Pottery Medici Lions, Staffordshire, Circa 1785

English Lead-glazed Earthenware Pottery Medici Lions.

Staffordshire, Circa 1785.

This pair of China Glaze or pearlware lions are derived from a pair of large marble statues now located at the base of the steps of the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence.  One lion is a classical period figure and the other was produced in the late 16th century by Flaminio Vacca.

The Staffordshire pottery lions are a true pair with the figures facing each other, and each with a different front paw on the ball. They are gloriously decorated in a beautiful light green, gray on a plain pearlware rectangular base with an unglazed bottom as are the Weldon pair.  The molding is extraordinary with crisp details on the paws, eye, main and tail.  Interestingly, the Weldon pair has a paper label on the underside that reads, “ J’ay achettez ceci le 27 Janvie 1789”.

Leslie Grisby (see below) mentions that John Wood includes in his sales ledger, ‘Image Toys {…] Pair of Large Lyons Gilt, sold 8 Mar 1786  to Mr John Edwards’.
The author writes that while stylistically, the lions certainly fit into the Wood period, but it would be difficult to attach a confident attribution, as several factories appear to have produced the subject and possibly using the same molds (page 341).

Dimensions: 8 inches high x 11 inches wide x 4 1/4 inches deep.

Provenance: Rectangular Paper Label for Ginsburg & Levy, Inc/ ANTIQUES/ 815 Madison Ave/ New York.

Reference:
English Pottery, Stoneware and Earthenware, 1650-1800, The Henry H. Weldon Collection, Leslie B. Grisby, Pages 340-341.
'English Earthenware Figures 1740-1840' by Pat Halfpenny, page 96, for the lion in the Weldon Collection with its right paw on the ball.

(Ref: NY10582-kurr)

Dimensions

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