{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O120205"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120205/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9078/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9078/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AB9078","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O120205/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O120205","accessionNumber":"S.1033-1996","objectType":"Figurine","titles":[{"title":"Charles Kean as Rolla","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Stars of the 19th century were often celebrated in paintings, prints and drawings, and in ceramic figurines. From the mid-1830s until the early 1900s several Staffordshire factories specialised in moulded earthenware portrait figurines which were decorated by hand and sold cheaply. This represents the actor Charles Kean (1811-1868) as Rolla in the melodrama <i>Pizarro</i>, carrying to safety the infant son of the Spaniard Alonzo and his Inca wife. It was modelled on a print published by the toy theatre publisher, A. Park.\r\n\r\nA great success when first staged at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1799, <i>Pizarro</i> was often revived in the 19th century. Adapted by Richard Brinsley Sheridan from the play <i>The Spaniard in Peru</i> by the German author Augustus von Kotzebue, it concerned  the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro waging a war of conquest against the Inca Empire of Peru.  Audiences loved the exotic sets and costumes, and actors found the role of the Inca Rolla, who dies saving the child, a suitably heroic part. Charles Kean played Rolla at the Princess's Theatre in 1856, repeating the success his father Edmund Kean had with the role at Drury Lane in 1819.","physicalDescription":"Lazed earthenware figure of Charles Kean as Rolla. He wears a white tunic with gilt detail, and a white hat. He holds both arms aloft. In his right hand he has a sword, his left supports a young boy who is balanced on his shoulder.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"lead glaze","id":"AAT233430"},{"text":"Earthenware","id":"x29356"}],"techniques":[{"text":"moulding","id":"x46876"},{"text":"firing (heating)","id":"AAT53887"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"glazing (coating)","id":"AAT53914"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Lead-glazed earthenware","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Earthenware","id":"THES48964"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AB9078"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES355437"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"figurine","id":"AAT47455"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Staffordshire","id":"x29181"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1860","earliest":"1855-01-01","latest":"1864-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"33.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"6.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of  base","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Charles Kean revived <i>Pizarro</i> at the Princess's Theatre with his wife Ellen Tree as Elvira on 1 September 1856.  A. Park would have published the engraved portrait soon after the production opened.","briefDescription":"Charles Kean as Rolla carrying the infant son of Alonzo to safety in the melodrama <i>Pizarro</i>, adapted by Richard Brinsley Sheridan from the play <i>The Spaniard in Peru</i> by Augustus von Kotzebue, Princess's Theatre, 1 September 1856. After a print published by A. Park. Earthenware pair group, Staffordshire, ca.1860","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victoria Era</i> by P.D. Gordon Pugh, p.450, fig.152."}],"production":"Modelled after a print by A. Park, ca.1856, inscribed 'Mr. C. Kean as Rolla'.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Kean, Charles","id":"N1280"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.1033-1996"],"accessionNumberNum":"1033","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1996,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-09","recordCreationDate":"2006-01-04","availableToBook":true}}