DERBY PORCELAIN FIGURE OF FALSTAFF. CHELSEA PORCELAIN FIGURE OF FALSTAFF.
Neale & Co. betray classic influence in much of their work, and as Voyez, the Frenchman, was their modeller, this is not hard to understand. Among their well-known figures are Flora (12½ inches high) and Diana (5 inches high), and they were large makers of Toby jugs. We give an illustration ([p. 355]) of a group of finely modelled ware by Neale & Co., including a Toby jug copied from the Ralph Wood model and impressed Naele & Co., and the familiar group of the Parson and Clerk copied by them after the well-known Chelsea-Derby porcelain model of the same subject, and reproduced as an earthenware group by many other Staffordshire potters. It is often attributed to Ralph Wood the younger. It is interesting to compare the Minerva with the Diana illustrated above. The same classic spirit was the inspiration of the two modellers, and in the case of unmarked classic figures there always exists considerable difficulty in definitely assigning their origin.
In regard to all these coloured Staffordshire figures it should be borne in mind that, until well towards the close of the eighteenth century, they were coloured by the use of pigments under the glaze, which gave a low-toned effect of very delicate character. Later, enamel colours were used with lurid effect, and much of the beauty of the old school vanished.
Enoch Wood (1783–1840), Wood and Caldwell (1790–1818).—Of this school there are several fine examples. There is no doubt that the ease with which classic prototypes could be copied and porcelain figures imitated began to tell upon the originality of most of the modellers. The Bacchus and Ariadne (illustrated [p. 363]), with the vine leaf wreaths in green around the heads and the finely coloured drapery, is by Enoch Wood. There is a specimen in a private collection at Eccles signed "E. Wood, Sculp. and Hewitt Pinxt." (the height of this example is 27 inches), in spite of the similar uncoloured group at the British Museum marked Wedgwood.
Enoch Wood is best known for his portrait busts of John Wesley and of George Whitfield. The former who stayed at his house in the Potteries sat for this bust, which is a fine piece of portraiture. This is marked "E. Wood," and sometimes "Enoch Wood, Sculp., Burslem 1781." George Whitfield was probably modelled at a later date. There is a fine equestrian statuette of St. George and the Dragon, sometimes signed "E. Wood," similar in modelling to the Whieldon mottled tortoiseshell coloured specimen (illustrated [p. 175]).
There are other busts by Enoch Wood which are noteworthy. There is the fine bust of Bonaparte as First Consul in coloured earthenware, with blue coat with yellow border, and having marbled base. The height of this is 9½ inches, and it is marked "E. Wood." This is in date about 1802. A bust of Alexander I. of Russia, in highly coloured earthenware, in military costume, marked Wood & Caldwell. The date of this is later than the Bonaparte, an inscription on the back on some examples runs "Alexander Aet. 35. Moscow burnt. Europe preserved 1812."
Another well-known figure by Wood and Caldwell is the figure of Quin as Falstaff. By the illustrations we have given ([p. 371]) it will be seen that this model was in direct imitation of the similar figures in porcelain at Derby and Chelsea. The colouring is different, the shield is silver lustre, the costume consists of red breeches, striped yellow and white surtout; but these colours are a feeble imitation of the finer enamel work on the china models from which they have been copied.