Figure thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Figure

ca. 1750-1754 (made)
Artist/Maker
Bow Porcelain Factory (manufacturer)
Place of origin
London (made)

Figure in porcelain of a sphinx couchant on a scrolled pedestal with the head traditionally identified as a portrait of actress Peg Woffington.

Object details

Categories
Ceramics
Porcelain
Object type
Figure
Materials and techniques
Porcelain
Porcelain
Brief description
Figure, in soft-paste porcelain, of a sphinx couchant on a scrolled pedestal, made by Bow Porcelain Factory, London, ca. 1750-1754
Physical description
Figure in porcelain of a sphinx couchant on a scrolled pedestal with the head traditionally identified as a portrait of actress Peg Woffington.
Dimensions
  • Height: 11.7cm
  • Length: 11.4cm
Credit line
Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
Object history
One of a pair of sphinxes 414:143-1885 (Sch. I 6)
The pair was purchased by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from Dalgleish, London, for £2 in December 1868.
Acquired as Bow or Chelsea porcelain.
Subjects depicted
Theatre
Sphinxes
Woffington, Margaret ('Peg)
Bibliographic references
  • Snodin, Michael (ed.). Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England. London: Trefoil Books and Victoria and Albert Museum, 1984, cat. O17.
  • Yarbrough, Raymond C. Bow Porcelain and the London Theatre. Michigan, USA, 1996. See pp49-55 for a detailed discussion of this model and its perceived links with the actress Peg Woffington and much biographical information about her. See fig. 75 for cat. nos. 8 and 9 for a coloured pair of sphinxes, fig. 76 for the Woffington portrait by Pond engraved by McArdell. '...It must be admitted that contemporary documentation to prove that Bow intended a representation of Peg Woffington is lacking. Yet, the tradition goes back at least to the 19th century when Lady Schreiber's collection was catalogued [ie 1885]. Other rare sphinxes were also produced at Bow and Chelsea and in Plymouth hard-paste porcelain, c.1766-70....' p. 55
Other number
Sch. I 6A - Schreiber number
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
414:143/A-1885

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Record createdDecember 1, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O176186/figure-bow-porcelain-factory/
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