Sculpture of the Day: The Prince and Princess, 1845-1850

Princess Victoria and Prince Edward
Staffordshire, 1845-1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Staffordshire figures often depicted popular people of the era. As we know, when these figures were first produced in 1840, the first subjects were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, so it’s only fitting that their children would also find themselves to be the subjects of these colorful porcelain sculptures.


Here we see a figure group of lead-glazed earthenware depicting Edward, Prince of Wales and his sister, Victoria, the Princess Royal—the first two children of the Queen and her consort. The Princess Victoria was the first born and was heiress presumptive to throne until the birth of her brother who, being male, took precedent in his place in the line of accession—later becoming King Edward VII.

Princess Victoria is riding in a carriage drawn by a horse on which the Prince ridden by the Prince. The oblong base is decorated by a scrolled front picked out in gilding, and inscribed “PRINCE AND PRINCESS” in black.