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Lot Essay
Paul Comolera (1818-1897) first appears in the Minton records in October 1873 and is listed up until 1876. He was best known as a modeller of birds and animals which were often observed from life.
This celebrated model shows great virtuosity and keen observation, as well as technical prowess; to fire something of this size in one piece was a great achievement. Although much admired by collectors today, contemporary sale records include examples at 25 guineas and 35 guineas.
Only a dozen other examples are known of, kept in institutional and private collections. The most famous of these was destined for the Sydney and Melbourne Exhibitions of 1879 and 1880 when the ship on which it was being carried, the Loch Ard, was wrecked fourteen miles from the Australian coast. Salvaged in 1878, it is now the pride of the collection at the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Victoria.
Aptly, the peacock is a symbol of resurrection and survival.
This model is illustrated throughout literature, see Marilyn G. Karmason and Joan B. Stacke, Majolica, A Complete History and Illustrated Survey, New York, 1989, p. 57, Paul Atterbury and Maureen Batkin The Dictionary of Minton, Woodbridge, 1990 p. 156, Victoria Bergesen Majolica, British, Continental and American, 1851-1915, London, 1989, illustrated to the back of the dust-jacket and appears as shape number 2045 in the Minton shape-numbers list, page 182, Joan Jones Minton, The First 200 Years of Design & Production, Shrewsbury, 1993, illustrated on p. 141 and discussed on p. 139 and 154.
See the examples sold at Christie's King Street, 15 February 1988 and 26 February 1998, also the example from the Minton Museum, sold Bonhams, London, 23 July 2002, now in The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.
This celebrated model shows great virtuosity and keen observation, as well as technical prowess; to fire something of this size in one piece was a great achievement. Although much admired by collectors today, contemporary sale records include examples at 25 guineas and 35 guineas.
Only a dozen other examples are known of, kept in institutional and private collections. The most famous of these was destined for the Sydney and Melbourne Exhibitions of 1879 and 1880 when the ship on which it was being carried, the Loch Ard, was wrecked fourteen miles from the Australian coast. Salvaged in 1878, it is now the pride of the collection at the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Victoria.
Aptly, the peacock is a symbol of resurrection and survival.
This model is illustrated throughout literature, see Marilyn G. Karmason and Joan B. Stacke, Majolica, A Complete History and Illustrated Survey, New York, 1989, p. 57, Paul Atterbury and Maureen Batkin The Dictionary of Minton, Woodbridge, 1990 p. 156, Victoria Bergesen Majolica, British, Continental and American, 1851-1915, London, 1989, illustrated to the back of the dust-jacket and appears as shape number 2045 in the Minton shape-numbers list, page 182, Joan Jones Minton, The First 200 Years of Design & Production, Shrewsbury, 1993, illustrated on p. 141 and discussed on p. 139 and 154.
See the examples sold at Christie's King Street, 15 February 1988 and 26 February 1998, also the example from the Minton Museum, sold Bonhams, London, 23 July 2002, now in The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.