Figure of the Day: The Ale Bench, 1835

The Ale Bench
Staffordshire, 1835
The Victoria & Albert Museum

 

Okay, back to business.  Here, we see a figural group of molded, lead-glazed earthenware painted with enamels.  Made in Staffordshire, England around 1835, this little group might be a fairing—a prize given away at a fair.

Painted with enamels, the comic group depicts a quarrelling man and woman drunk and brawling, with a table overturned. Entitled, “The Ale Bench,” it is mounted on a plinth resembling a table.  Such comical pieces would have been novelties used to adorn a gentleman’s desk or bookshelves.


This piece is paired with another figure group.  The mate is entitled "Tea Total" and depicts another couple--this time with a child--in a happy, clean home.  Obviously, it's a commentary on drinking alcohol which remains accurate to this day, I think.