1504
1504m
1504a
1504c
Figure — CRC# 1504
- Description
- A Plymouth (William Cookworthy) figure of America, circa 1768-70 From a set of the Four Continents, modelled as a woman wearing a feathered headdress and finely painted and gilt drapery over a feather skirt, her right hand reaching for an arrow in the quiver over her shoulder, her left hand by a tree stump, a small prairie dog at her feet, on a scroll-edged rocky base, 33.8cm high
- Service
- Continents
- Date
- 1770-73
- Size
- 33.8cm high
- Condition
- Perfect
- Mark
- No mark
- Mark Group
- No mark
- Decorator
- No mark
- Maker
- Cookworthy
- Historic Provenance
- The set of the Four Continents, first produced in soft-paste porcelain at Vauxhall is thought to have been brought to Plymouth by the mould-maker named Hammersley. Two figures of America, one Vauxhall and one Plymouth, were in the Lady Charlotte Schreiber Collection, given to the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. nos.414:8-1885 and 414:684-1885). Interestingly, Lady Schreiber writes in her journal in October 1869 that she was pleased to find the 'coveted article... a fine Plymouth figure of America', after months of scouring the Continent for one such example. It must have made an interesting comparison with the soft-paste Vauxhall example, which she had purchased just months before as Bow. A Plymouth figure of America left in the white was sold by Bonhams on 29 September 2020, lot 160.
- CRC#
- 1504
- Type
- Figure
1504b
Historic illustrations, exhibitions and provenance
H0586 · 1912
The Continents, from the Trapnell catalogue
Source: The Alfred Trapnell Catalogue of Bristol and Plymouth Porcelain
H0550 · 1915
America and Asia from the Schreiber collection
H0432 · 1928
The Continents, a mixed set, from Frank Hurlbutt's Bristol Porcelain
Source: Bristol Porcelain
H0467 · 1946
The Continents, Asia and Europe, showing different versions through time
H0468 · 1946
The Continents, Africa and America, again showing evolution through time
H0638 · 2013
Asia, at Bonhams, May 2013
H0641 · 2020
Asia, in white, at Bonhams, September 2020
H0642 · 2020
Europe, decorated, at Bonhams Sept 2020
H0530 · 2021
The four Continents in the Vanessa Stevenson sale at Albert Amor
Source: The Vanessa Stevenson Collection
H0384 · 2023
The four Continents in the white, stars of the Creed sale at Albert Amor in 2023
Source: The Creed Collection of Plymouth & Bristol Porcelain (part I)
H0634 · 2025
Asia, in white (a different one) at Bonhams, November 2025
H0231 · 2026
Bonhams June 2026 auction of Fine Glass and British Ceramics
Related pieces
Service · S066
Continents
Group · g1521
A set of Plymouth figures of the Continents in the white
Figure · 1521
America, from a rare set of four Plymouth figures of the Continents, in the white, each represented by a standing young woman; America with feathered headdress and tunic, drawing an arrow from a quiver, a dog at her feet, Asia holding a censer, a camel at her side, Africa with a crocodile and a lion at her feet, and Europe holding a book and an artist’s palette, a horse, cannon and cuirass at her feet, each on scroll moulded mound base, circa 1768-70, no marks
Figure · 1523
Africa, from a rare set of four Plymouth figures of the Continents, in the white, each represented by a standing young woman; America with feathered headdress and tunic, drawing an arrow from a quiver, a dog at her feet, Asia holding a censer, a camel at her side, Africa with a crocodile and a lion at her feet, and Europe holding a book and an artist’s palette, a horse, cannon and cuirass at her feet, each on scroll moulded mound base, circa 1768-70, no marks
Figure · 1524
Europe, from a rare set of four Plymouth figures of the Continents, in the white, each represented by a standing young woman; America with feathered headdress and tunic, drawing an arrow from a quiver, a dog at her feet, Asia holding a censer, a camel at her side, Africa with a crocodile and a lion at her feet, and Europe holding a book and an artist’s palette, a horse, cannon and cuirass at her feet, each on scroll moulded mound base, circa 1768-70, no marks
Figure · 1522
Asia, from a rare set of four Plymouth figures of the Continents, in the white, each represented by a standing young woman; America with feathered headdress and tunic, drawing an arrow from a quiver, a dog at her feet, Asia holding a censer, a camel at her side, Africa with a crocodile and a lion at her feet, and Europe holding a book and an artist’s palette, a horse, cannon and cuirass at her feet, each on scroll moulded mound base, circa 1768-70, no marks
