Fabulous Figurines

Fabulous Figurines

In the 19th century to meet growing demand for fine decorative porcelain figures from high end companies such as the Chelsea and Derby Porcelain works, a number of Staffordshire factories began creating less expensive imitations in earthenware for the mass market.

These Staffordshire figures were intended to be viewed on a mantelpiece from the front only, and therefore the backs were not modelled or painted. These figurines are therefore commonly known as Staffordshire flatbacks.

Today, they are highly collectable. Serious collectors become very familiar with spotting fakes. Genuine Staffordshire flat-backs from the Victorian period are generally well-modelled and strongly coloured. Later examples by comparison tend to have paler decoration and are more crudely moulded. The fakes have often been made from pure white porcelain, which has then been coloured to make them appear older. On reproductions and fakes you can often see that the makers have tried to artificially age them by adding crazing and scratches on the surfaces, to try and replicate historic wear and tear, but the marks can often be spotted as fake, because they are too regular.

The museum has a collection of around 400 figures. Typical Staffordshire flatbacks feature themes of animals, classical deities or allegorical figures, such as the three female figures representing Faith, Hope and Charity. From the 1840’s onwards there was a demand for them to depict famous recognisable people – royalty, sportsmen, theatrical celebrities, religious figures and notorious villains (such as our example commemorating the Red Barn murder in 1827).

One of the main factories producing Staffordshire flatbacks, was John Walton’s in Burslem, a town that today forms part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. Walton’s figures often were shown against a background of flowering trees, known as bocage. Alternatively, some figures were depicted on raised grass covered mounds, or mounted on a square based edged with a brown line (e.g. Red Barn Murder example). Biblical characters tended to be depicted on a table style base, essentially a scroll footed platform.

Selected figures from the museum’s collections:

 18th century
Two 'Astbury ware figurines, one of a pedlar and one of a bagpiper, thought to have been produced at the Astbury family’s factory in Shelton (Stoke-on-Trent) c.1725, which were purchased by W,M, Tuke from the effects of a Mrs Butterfield in 1893. Astbury figures have a distinctive tortoiseshell finish. The figures were modelled in clay, which was then slip-coated and decorated in a coloured slip, which was later superseded by metallic oxide colours.


19th century
Derby Porcelain Works fine figurine of a couple stood by a tree c.1800.

Derby Porcelain Works set of candlesticks, late 18th century.

Staffordshire figure of a woman with sheep with bocage foliage, produced by the John Walton factory in Burslem (Stoke-on-Trent), early 19th century.
Staffordshire Flatback representation of Wombwell’s Menagerie including a “Wallace the Lion”

Staffordshire figure made to commemorate the Red Barn Murder which took place at Polstead in Suffolk in 1827, the male figure is that of William Corder, entering the barn in which he buried his victim Maria Martin.

 Parianware figure of Sennacherib a bearded man wearing a fringed robe and cloak carrying a staff, made by A Hays at Copelands of Stoke, mid 19th century. Parianware is a type of biscuit porcelain which had a high degree of feldspar, and was used to imitate marble. It was developed around 1845 by the Staffordshire pottery manufacturer Mintons, and named after Paros, the Greek island renowned for its fine-textured, white Parian marble, used since antiquity for sculpture.