Mrs Page & Ancient Pistol (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

Stock No: 000991

Height: 7.5 Inches / 19 cm

Reference; Harding Book 1, Page 292, Fig 1066/ Male Possibly Unrecorded

A very rare and previously unrecorded pair of figures of Frances “Fanny” Elizabeth Fitzwilliam (née Copeland) playing the part of Mrs Page in Shakespeare‘s play ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ and a previously unrecorded and unidentified male actor, possibly playing the part of Corporal Nym or Ancient Pistol.

Mrs Page is standing on a circular gilt lined base decorated with swags and tassels (representing the curtains and tassels of a theatre), wearing a plumed hat, with a long dress underneath, her hands clasped together. Her companion stands on a similar circular gilt lined base decorated with swags and tassels, wearing a plumed headscarf, a long frockcoat with pantaloons and knee-length boots, he clasps a scroll (Falstaff’s intended love letter) in both hands.

The source of the female figure is from an engraving from the Tallis Shakespeare Gallery, inscribed ‘Miss Fitzwilliam as Mrs Page’ in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, Sc 1.

You only need to read the synopsis of the play to find out who the companion figure is likely to be, as (in the play) it was Pistol and Nym that Falstaff had asked to deliver his letters. The figures are in excellent condition, a true pair, as both figures have the exact same decorators mark on the underside of the base.