The Welsh Tailor and his family.
Derby Porcelain Works
Category
Ceramics
Date
1830 - 1840
Materials
bone china porcelain
Measurements
14.8 x 10.2 cm
Place of origin
Derby
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 870986
Summary
Pair of figures, porcelain, The Welch Tailor and his Family, Robert Bloor, Derby Porcelain Factory, 1830-40
Full description
Versions of these figures were first produced at Derby in the 1760 as model number 62. They were advertised in a sale catalogue of 1771 as 'one small pair Welch taylor and family riding goats, elegantly finish'd in flowers and burnish'd gold £1 0s 0d.' The figures at Saltram were produced under Robert Bloor (1778-1846), who leased the Derby works from William Duesbury in 1811. It appears that Bloor - who had worked as a clerk at for Duesbury and had no artistic background - struggled to make a profit. However, a large team of incredibly fine painters worked at Derby during Bloor's management, including William 'Quaker' Pegg and Moses Webster, who produced wonderful botanical services. In 1828 Bloor's deteriorating mental health led him to relinquish management of the works to James Thomason. An auction of stock was advertised in The Morning Post on 24 May 1836, with goods offered without a reserve price 'in consequence of the long illness of Mr. Robert Bloor, the principal partner.' In October 1844, a hearing of the Lunacy Commission declared Bloor unfit to run the manufactory and agreed he had not been of sound mind since 1828. The porcelain works was taken over by his grandaughter, who sold it on before it ultimately failed in 1848.
Makers and roles
Derby Porcelain Works, potter
References
John Twitchett, 1980, Derby Porcelain; Peter Bradshaw, 1990, Derby Porcelain Figures 1750-1848,, pp. 221-2