This figurine is made of Parian ware, the unglazed development of biscuit porcelain which became very popular after the Staffordshire firm of Copeland and Garrett introduced it in 1842 as a medium for busts, statuettes and reliefs. Several potteries marketed it under a different name but Parian ware became its generic name after Minton used 'Parian' to suggest Paros, the Greek island which supplied a lot stone used for Classical statuary. Parian ware was not cheap but gave households the semblance of owning a marble bust or figurine, previously only afforded by the very wealthy. The Worcester firm started their production of Parian relatively late, but after they launched a range at the Dublin Exhibition in 1853, James Hadley (1837-1903), their chief modeller, created a large number of decorative and useful wares for them, among them this figure of Lear in the storm scene on the heath in Act lll of Shakespeare's King Lear. Hadley left the firm in1875 but continued to supply designs for them on a freelance basis and set up his own factory in 1896, which amalgamated with Royal Worcester in 1905.

Lear is shown in his distress, raging against the storm and his daughters with the famous speech beginning: 'Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout'. There is a real sense of madness and movement in the modelling as Lear's hair and cloak is blown around him while he stands in defiance of the wind and rain.