Una and the Lion (from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, 1590) (after John Bell)
Minton's Ltd (Minton and Co.)
Category
Ceramics
Date
4 Oct 1847
Materials
Parianware ceramic
Measurements
369 x 150 x 316 mm
Place of origin
Stoke-on-Trent
Order this imageCollection
Lanhydrock, Cornwall
NT 880956
Summary
Parian ware ceramic (unglazed porcelain), Una and the Lion (from Edmund Spenser's 'Faerie Queene', 1590) (after John Bell) by Minton's Ltd (Minton & Co.), 1847. A naked female sitting with right leg across left knee on a lion half covered with a cloth. Raised mark of John Bell and registration mark and date for October 4 1847. It was originally produced for Felix Summerly's Art Manufactures in 1847 and remained in production until at least 1860s. Una is separated from the Redcrosse Knight of Holiness by the wiles of Archimago but meets and is protected by a lion until the latter is killed by Sansloy, who carried Una off to a forest. She is later rescued and is finally united to the Redcrosse Knight. Bell was inspired by Edmund Spenser: 'The Lyon would not leave her desolate, But with her went along, as a strong gard Of her chaste person.' (Book I, Canto III) It was also reproduced in miniature in Parian ware by Copeland and a full-size marble version produced after the smaller Parian-ware statuette, now lost, was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and on display at Sydenham Crystal Palace. There is another Parian ware version in the Royal Collection. Una had previously been associated with Queen Victoria when William Wyon designed the £5 coin that depictedf Her Majesty as Una, holding the sceptre, with her guardian the lion, emblem of England.
Provenance
Unknown
Marks and inscriptions
(raised back right corner of base) (within diamond) IV/F/B Rd L(?) / R (and enclosed beneath)SF(?) (over) JOHN BELL (over) arrow below three dots.
Makers and roles
Minton's Ltd (Minton and Co.) , ceramic manufacturer after John Bell (Hopton, Suffolk 1811 – Kensington 1895), sculptor
References
Sculpture Victorious Art in an Age of Invention, 1837 – 1901, exh. cat., Yale Center for British Art, September 11, 2014 – November 30, 2014 and Tate Britain, 25 February – 25 May 2015, no. 91 Atterbury 1989 Paul Atterbury, The Parian Phenomenon. A Survey of Victorian Parian Porcelain Statuary & Busts, 1989, p. 50 and passim (illus.) Barnes 1999: Richard Barnes, John Bell. The Sculptor's Life and Works, Kirstead, 1999, p. 32-3 Bryant 2011 Julius Bryant, Art and Design for All: The Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A Publishing, London, 2011 Illustrated London News 1851, 'Una and the Lion by John Bell', Illustrated London News 19, 5 July 1851, p. 32