{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O120491"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O120491/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9233/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AB9233/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AB9233","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O120491/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O120491","accessionNumber":"S.983-1996","objectType":"Figurine","titles":[{"title":"Sir John Falstaff","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Earthenware flatbacks and figurines for mantelpiece decoration were first produced in Staffordshire in the late 1830s.  The earliest datable pieces appear to have been of the young Queen Victoria who was crowned in 1837.  Images of royalty proved a lucrative market and between the late 1830s and the turn of the century a host of figurines were produced, celebrating figures in the royal family, politics, the navy, the Church, popular fiction, sport, circus and the theatre.  The poses were frequently copied from engravings, but this figurine of Falstaff was copied from an earlier figure, made by the Derby factory, of James Quin (1693-1766) as Shakespeare's corpulent Falstaff, the character who appears in both the <i>Henry IV</i> plays and <i>The Merry Wives of Windsor</i>. \r\n\r\nQuin 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.  His fame would have ensured that he was remembered by many in the 19th century when this was made, but this figure probably sold well because it was of Falstaff rather than because of the fame of its original subject, Quin.","physicalDescription":"Glazed earthenware figurine of Falstaff, with a grey beard and long hair, wearing a large black feathered hat, a white neck-frill, a white shirt, a knee-length blue tunic with a yellow lining, a white waistcoat decorated with sprigs of flowers, lilac striped breeches and black boots. He is carrying a tan shield in his left hand and the guard of a rapier in his right, and stands on a white base decorated to appear as a grassy mound.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"earthenware","id":"x29356"},{"text":"Glaze","id":"AAT15091"}],"techniques":[{"text":"moulding","id":"x46876"},{"text":"firing (heating)","id":"AAT53887"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"glazing (coating)","id":"AAT53914"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glazed earthenware","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Earthenware","id":"THES48964"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Shakespeare","id":"THES253244"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AB9233"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES355436"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"figurines","id":"AAT47455"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Staffordshire","id":"x29181"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1850","earliest":"1845-01-01","latest":"1854-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.1008-1996","id":"O112147"},"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":"21.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"10.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"11.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"of base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The first Derby figure, after which this was copied, probably dates from the death of James Quin in 1766. Although the first figure was clean-shaven, subsequent figures were bearded; later there was a reversion to the beardless type.  James Quin was famous for having played Falstaff without a beard.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Figurine, modelled after the earlier Derby figurine of the actor James Quin (1693-1766) as Sir John Falstaff, glazed earthenware, Staffordshire, ca.1850","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Era</i> by P.D. Gordon Pugh, p.426, plate 11; p.486."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Quin, James","id":"N4839"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.983-1996"],"accessionNumberNum":"983","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1996,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-24","recordCreationDate":"2006-01-13","availableToBook":true}}