Dressing up

This little boy piper is spreading the good news: as a result of last week's appeal to buy while I would donate 10% of sales to my local food bank I have been able to donate £65 - thank you everyone who contributed! 🙏

In this time of working from home there are many jokes about how we dress - or not. Stories of people accidentally revealing their pyjama bottoms when standing up during a conference call, and people working in their jammies all day 😊 So I thought to upgrade our sense of fashion a bit with today's offering of porcelain!

Today we have one of my favourite porcelain figures: a shepherd boy piper made by the Bow Porcelain factory in about 1755. The boy looks wonderfully innocent and cheerful and at his feet is an adorable dog. The dog is a sweet mongrel, his expression is docile and extremely loyal. The boy looks wide-eyed and cheerful and you can see his little fingers move over the flute of his bagpipes. Another amazing thing about this little figure is the sense of fashion: have you ever seen a better dressed street musician? A beautiful black hat, a sensational floral jacket with pockets and back flaps, cool pink carefully stitched trousers and, to top it off, blue ribbons in his shoes. This boy is setting a new standard for all of us!

The Bow factory, located just a kilometre or two downstream from the River Lea where my stock room is, was the first to use bone china in Britain. This was a practical consideration; they wanted something more plastic and white, and they happened to be located next to a slaughterhouse where they could get cheap bones. As a result, the Bow figures have extraordinary detail and whiteness. The Bow decorators were also incredibly detailed; there is no end to the fineness of facial expressions, clothes and, in this case, the dog's hair.

You can this little boy here in my shop, and you can see all decorative objects here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story every single day 💗💕💖⁠

Happy Easter - and #stayathome ! 🏡