FINE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART
A fine pair of Derby Goldfinches, each delicately and naturalistically painted and perched on a tree stump issuing brightly coloured leaves and flowers, both in typically animated pose, one upright and alert, the other looking to one side, each spreading base painted with a moth in flight in tones of red, black and yellow.
c. 1758-60
Height: one 4ins (9.6 cms)
the other 3¼ ins (8.3 cms)
Marks: patch marks to the underside of the bases.
Condition: one with tip of tail restored, the other with tip of beak restored.
These highly naturalistic birds owe a great deal of their design to the models made at Bow in the same period. The moths or butterflies on their bases are rare features and quite different from those executed by the Moth Painter, having more in common with insects and flowers found on porcelain decorated in London at outside decorating houses in the early 1750’s. It is very possible that this painter moved to Derby with the acquisition of the factory by Duesbury in 1756.