A Staffordshire Figure of Prince Albert, Alpha Factory, circa 1845
This Staffordshire flatback figure is modelled as Prince Albert seated. He wears a cobalt blue jacket with a high neck, trousers painted with a pale pink wash, and black shoes. His jacket is picked out with gilt details including a star insignia on his right breast. In his right hand he clutches an orange scroll. The edge of the chair is decorated with sieved clay. A gilt line is applied to the front and sides of the base. The glazed concave base has a very small air vent to allow gas to escape during the firing process. The Garter Star and hair styling correspond to portraits of Prince Albert painted during the early 1840s.
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-1861) was born to a family connected to many of Europe’s ruling monarchs. In 1840, he married his cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, becoming her consort. Victoria granted Albert the title of Prince Consort in 1857. In his role as consort, Albert supported many public causes, including educational reform and the worldwide abolition of slavery. The hugely popular Great Exhibition of 1851 is one major project with which he was very closely involved. His premature death at the age of 42, plunged Victoria into a period of deep mourning lasting many decades.
The author and scholar Thomas Balston was the first to recognise the characteristics of an important group of figures, which he singled out and referred to as being the work of the Alpha Factory. The actual name of the manufacturer is unknown, however we do know that their period of production dates to between 1840 and 1853. Alpha characteristics here include the porcelaneous clay body, the palette of colours used, and the gilt line halfway up across the front of the base and descending to the bottom of the base on each side.
Condition: Three tiny flakes retouched to the black on-glaze enamel hair. Light glaze lines and crazing to the clear lead glaze. Manufacturing flaws include small shrinkage tears to the clay prior to firing, misfiring at the end of the scroll in Albert’s right hand, and a minor kiln touch to the edge of the base.
Dimensions: Height 13.5 cm; Width (across the base) 5 cm; Depth (across the base) 5.1 cm.
Ref. See Pugh for this figure with its companion (A125, Plate 16a, Figures 40 & 39), and for a description of the Alpha Factory.
Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Era, P.D. Gordon Pugh (Antique Collectors’ Club, 1988).
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