Stars of the 19th century theatre were often celebrated in paintings, prints and drawings, and in ceramic figurines. Several Staffordshire factories specialised in moulded earthenware portrait figurines which were decorated by hand and sold cheaply. This shows the actor-manager John Philip Kemble (1757-1823) as Hamlet, the part in which he first made his name on the stage in Dublin in 1782 and the following year at London's Drury Lane Theatre. The Kemble family dominated the theatrical world in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and when John Philip Kemble made his London debut as Hamlet in September 1783, his sister Sarah Siddons was already regarded as one of the greatest tragedians ever.


The pose was copied from a contemporary engraving published in Tallis's Shakespeare Gallery, 1852-1853, after a painting by Lawrence. At least seven earthenware portrait figurines are known to have been copied from engravings in Tallis's Shakespeare Gallery, known as 'Tallis figures'. They were made in many sizes and are thought to have been made by the Burslem potters Thomas Parr (who was working from 1852 until 1870), John Parr (who worked from 1870 to 1879), or the Kent & Parr firm (who worked from 1880 until 1894). These manufacturers passed the moulds to each other and the figures were produced throughout the Victorian period. This figure may have been made by Tomas Parr, whose factory operated in Burdslem from 1852 to 1870. During the 19th century however there were over a hundred manufacturers working in the Staffordshire area known as the Potteries, and although it is possible to identify makers of some of the early figures, the majority are impossible to identify.