• Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware0
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware1
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware2
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware3
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware4
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware5
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware6
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware7
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware8
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware9
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware10
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware11
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware12
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware13
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware14
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware15
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware16
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware17
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware18
  • Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware19
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Enoch Wood

Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware

Rare First Model Enoch Wood John Wesley Bust Aged 81 c1784 Earliest Pearlware

£2,450.00 GBP
£0.00 GBP £2,450.00 GBP
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A rare early Staffordshire pearlware portrait bust of the Reverend John Wesley (1703–1791), founder of Methodism, from the first model by Enoch Wood of Burslem. The reverse has the oval tablet impressed THE REVD JOHN WESLEY MA / AGED 81. with the small impressed signature E WOOD SCULP / BURSLEM beneath.

Wesley sat for the young Enoch Wood at Burslem, and the likeness was praised by those who knew him as the most faithful ever taken. Wesley was 81 in 1784–85, so the 'Aged 81' tablet dates this bust to the earliest period of production. These first-model busts are built with an open, hollow back, the tablet carried on two upright supports, exactly as here. After Wesley's death in 1791 Wood remodelled the bust with a closed back, fuller drapery and a tablet recording his death, and it is those later versions, and the many copies by other potters, that are usually found.

Comparable 'Aged 81' examples are held by the Chipstone Foundation (USA) and Queen's College, University of Melbourne. The early busts are discussed in the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society (1908) and in Frank Falkner, The Wood Family of Burslem (1912).

Wesley is shown in old age with long white hair ending in rolled curls, a flesh-tinted face with finely modelled wrinkles, black gown and white preaching bands, on a waisted square socle decorated in marbled pink, yellow, grey and black. Pearlware glaze with the characteristic blue tint where it pools, and crazing throughout.

Condition – please read. This bust has been restored. There is an area of restoration (filler and paint) inside the back where the shoulders meet the socle, consistent with a repair at the neck join. There is a fine hairline running down the forehead from the hairline, approximately 3cm. The black of the gown has a matt surface and later touching-in to the black cannot be ruled out. The impressed lettering on the tablet is filled in black. Light frits and rubbing to the lower edges of the socle. An old paper collector's label is inside the shoulder. Please view all photographs, which form part of the description.

Height approximately 30cm (11¾in).

Carefully packed and dispatched promptly, with combined postage offered on multiple purchases. UK and international postage available. Please message with any questions before purchasing.

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