Sculpture of the Day: The Young Peddlar, 1760

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This figure in soft-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilding depicts a young, male Jewish peddlar. A basket of bottles is slung from his shoulders and he wears a fur-lined turquoise-green jacket, striped trousers, black shoes and a fur-lined red cap.


Made in 1760, this figure is the perfect example of the kind of porcelain ornaments produced in Derby in the Eighteenth Century. From the fine modeling of the figure to the applied flowers on the base, it’s the quintessential representation of the skill of the Derby Porcelain Factory.

The subject is clearly identified as a young Jewish man by his fur-lined cap and jacket—traditional garb for English Jews in the Eighteenth Century.