A Seated Pearlware Figure of Sir John Falstaff

Stock No: 000908

Height: 4.7 Inches / 12.5 cm

Reference: Myrna Schkolne Staffordshire Figures 1780 to 1840 Vol 2, Page 30, Similar to Fig 35.10

A very rare and possibly unrecorded pearlware figure of a seated Falstaff. Sir John can be found seated on a square double lined base, wearing a plumed hat, coat, that is belted and buckled across his waist and over his shoulder, breaches, and boots. He holds what appears to be a pipe in his left hand, his right hand is open and rests on his knee.

Sir John Falstaff is the rotund, cowardly knight in Shakespeare‘s Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry IV, Part 2, and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The possible source for this figure could be an engraving by Henry Bunbury, published in 1792, it depicts Falstaff seated and may well have inspired the potters to make a small number of unusual seated figures. (see illustration)