{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O112147"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112147/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MG7646/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MG7646/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MG7646","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O112147/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O112147","accessionNumber":"S.1008-1996","objectType":"Ceramic","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"18th and 19th centuries stars were often celebrated in paintings, prints, dawings, scultures and ceramics.  Small figurines of performers proved lucrative for ceramic firms such as Derby, which was established by the French Huguenot Andrew Planche in the mid-1740s and was one of the earliest English porcelain factories.  Porcelain manufacturers were able to copy engravings of the most popular performers and produce small decorative ceramics such as this which helped spread the fame of the subjects concerned.\r\n\r\nThis is the corpulent English actor James Quin (1693-1766) as Shakespeare's equally corpulent Falstaff, the character in both <i>Henry IV Part 1</i> and <i>The Merry Wives of Windsor</i>.  Quin was Britain's foremost actor after the death of Robert Wilks in 1732 and before the London début of David Garrick in 1741, and could command extremely high salaries wherever he appeared.  He was born in Covent Garden of Irish parents, made his first appearances in Dublin in 1713 or 1714, and by early 1715  was a member of the company at London's Drury Lane Theatre.  Quin took comic as well as tragic roles, but his Falstaff was best-remembered part, perhaps due to the figurines produced by Bow, Derby, and later, Staffordshire factories.","physicalDescription":"Glazed Derby porcelain figurine of James Quin (1693-1766) as Falstaff, with a grey beard and long hair, wearing a  large black feathered hat, a white neck-frill, a yellow shirt, a knee-length lilac tunic edged in gold with gold buttons, a pink waistcoat edged in gold with gold buttons, blue breeches and black boots. He is carrying a gold shield in his left hand and the guard of a rapier in his right, and stands on a 'grassy' mound, the edge of the base glazed in white and decorated with gold.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Derby Porcelain factory","id":"A9087"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Porcelain","id":"AAT10662"},{"text":"Glaze","id":"AAT15091"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glazed porcelain","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Shakespeare","id":"THES253244"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2019MG7646"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES355485"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"figurines","id":"AAT47455"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Derby","id":"x31922"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c.1766","earliest":"1766-01-01","latest":"1766-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.983-1996","id":"O120491"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.2063-1986","id":"O118260"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.934-1996","id":"O120618"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"7.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Red Crown Derby mark underglaze in the base","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"The first Derby figure probably dates from the death of James Quin in 1766.\r\nAlthough the first figure was clean-shaven, subsequent figures were beardless; later there was a reversion to the beardless type.  James Quin was famous for having played Falstaff without a beard.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Figurine of the actor James Quin (1693-1766) as Sir John Falstaff, modelled after an engraving by J. McArdell, Derby porcelain c.1766","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Era</i> by P.D. Gordon Pugh"}],"production":"Modelled after an undated mezzotint of James Quin by J. McArdell","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Falstaff","id":"N2573"}],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Quin","id":"N4839"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.1008-1996"],"accessionNumberNum":"1008","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1996,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-24","recordCreationDate":"2005-05-20","availableToBook":true}}