Figure of the Day: Polito's Royal Menagerie, 1830

Polito's Royal Menagerie
Staffordshire, 1830
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made in Staffordshire circa 1830, this celebrated, exceptional mantelpiece ornament is considered the most elaborate of the early Nineteenth Century figural groups by the Staffordshire factory. This was the last hurrah of the figural groups before the concern focused on the less expensive flatbacks for which Staffordshire is now famous. The earthenware piece is made-up of castings from two separate moulds which have been assembled by a “repairer” before firing and adorned with painted and sponged enamels. The cost of producing such a piece prohibited further manufacture on a broad scale.

The group depicts the entrance of one of the famous travelling menageries of Stephen Polito, the self-styled “modern Noah.” The traveling show was called “Polito's Royal Menagerie of the Wonderful Birds and Beasts from Most Parts of the World.”