One Little Grumpy Prince with His Devoted Dog

THE STORY - I think anyone who looks at my shop will no doubt reach the conclusion that I have a deep love of these early naive Staffordshire Figurines. Indeed they were made in large numbers often sold or given as prizes in village fairs with the early Georgian and Victorian pieces painted by hand, sometimes by the hand of children giving each piece its own individuality, often they cause a smile at the naivety of the piece and its subject and then sometimes they just strike immediately right at your heart and so it was with this little chap. I spied him on the shelf at the back of my favourite Thanet Antique Shop just as I finished paying for my goods and the owner kindly put him in a drawer waiting for my return, he didn't have to wait long. And here is why I adore this particular figurine it is the face of that dear child looking just so fed up and grumpy with his little downturned mouth and what looks like a frown and his little cheeks flushed with anger and to finish the look off perfectly he has a slightly flattened nose as he sits on his his loyal friend the dog. This figurine I have no doubt was once part of a pair and the little boy is the eldest Son of Queen Victoria, The Prince of Wales (Prince Albert 1841-1910) and I would imagine the lost partner would be that of his Sister The Princess Royal (Victoria 1840-1891). And the dog that they are sitting on would be Queen Victoria's famous darling pet King Charles Spaniel, Dash. Indeed it is not just the little boys face I adore it is Dash's too with the fine painting of the eyes and a little detail that just makes the figurine that little more special is the painting of the claws on Dash's front paws. The Prince and his Dog sit on a simple oval base with a painting gilt line around the edge, and the figurine is small measuring just 5.5cm in width.

AGE - Circa 1850

CONDITION - The figurine is in good condition with no large chips or cracks there is just a gentle chip at the front bottom of the base which can best be seen in the eighth photo. But they do show as expected signs of their age the little Prince's white cap is somewhat dirty and there is wear to the knees of his yellow trousers. Dash's face as you can see from the photos does have some little brown marks to it which I do not think are any near as noticeable in real life, but it cannot be denied they are there.

DIMENSIONS (Approx) - 2&3/4" / 7cm, Width 2&1/4" / 5.5cm, Depth 1&1/8" / 3cm

So it was the painting of this little figurine that struck at my heart, giving the two characters such wonderful expressions and animation. But, I cannot deny I also love the craziness of the tiny prince looking glum sitting on a giant King Charles Spaniel, indeed the Victorians did not just combine Queen Victoria's oldest children with dogs but with goats too and indeed I have been lucky to have found two examples of those. I do love these examples of Victorian craziness and novelty.