An exceptionally rare bust of the Irish Catholic friar, Father Theobald Mathew.
Mathew wears a white jacket, waistcoat and necktie, the lapels and buttons decorated with gilt. The bust is mounted on a square white base. The title - ‘FR. MATTHEW’ (sic) - is written in italicised gilt capitals.
Mathew was a noted teetotaller and proponent of abstinence. In 1838 he founded a temperance society called ‘The Knights of Father Mathew’ which eventually became the ‘Catholic Total Abstinence Society’. Mathew was depicted widely by the Staffordshire potters but this bust ranks as one of the very rarest Mathew figures with very few known examples. It may have been made for the Irish or American market given its comparatively early date, though Mathew did have many British followers too.
The bust is offered in nice condition and displays well. It is nicely modelled and elegantly, conservatively decorated. A chip to the back of one of the shoulders has been professionally restored, and a break across the pillar has been professionally repaired. A chip to a corner of the base has been refilled. The bust shows general signs of age-related wear including some small nibbles to the lower edge of the base, flaking to the hair, some crazing, and staining.
Reference: Stella Beddoe, A Potted History: Henry Willett’s Ceramic Chronicle of Britain, p. 297, fig. 1503
Height: 8”
Date: c. 1840
An exceptionally rare bust of the Irish Catholic friar, Father Theobald Mathew.
Mathew wears a white jacket, waistcoat and necktie, the lapels and buttons decorated with gilt. The bust is mounted on a square white base. The title - ‘FR. MATTHEW’ (sic) - is written in italicised gilt capitals.
Mathew was a noted teetotaller and proponent of abstinence. In 1838 he founded a temperance society called ‘The Knights of Father Mathew’ which eventually became the ‘Catholic Total Abstinence Society’. Mathew was depicted widely by the Staffordshire potters but this bust ranks as one of the very rarest Mathew figures with very few known examples. It may have been made for the Irish or American market given its comparatively early date, though Mathew did have many British followers too.
The bust is offered in nice condition and displays well. It is nicely modelled and elegantly, conservatively decorated. A chip to the back of one of the shoulders has been professionally restored, and a break across the pillar has been professionally repaired. A chip to a corner of the base has been refilled. The bust shows general signs of age-related wear including some small nibbles to the lower edge of the base, flaking to the hair, some crazing, and staining.
Reference: Stella Beddoe, A Potted History: Henry Willett’s Ceramic Chronicle of Britain, p. 297, fig. 1503
Height: 8”
Date: c. 1840
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