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14a. Ralph Wood Numbers |
Please see https://www.mystaffordshirefigures.com/books.html for a free download of my Ralph Wood notebook, well illustrated with examples of the numbered figures and others.
Numbers impressed on Ralph Wood Figures.
My list below is an extensive update of Falkner's valiant effort of more than a century ago, I have used the following abbreviations:
E. Decorated with enamel colors.
C. Decorated with colored glazes.
U. Undecorated and coated in (relatively) clear glaze only. Nearly all such figures have whitish bodies under the glaze and in their day would have been described as “china glaze.” Touches of gilding remain on some.
B. Unglazed (biscuit).
? I am unsure because my source information is not clear.
My revised list excludes Falkner’s entries for enamel-painted figures of Charlotte weeping for Werther (no. 3), Sportsman (no. 27) and his companion Archer (no. 97). I have not identified a single such figure with Ralph Wood features. Enoch Wood, who impressed numbers of unknown purpose on some of his figures, made many examples of these subjects. Were the Sportsman and Archer Ralph Wood figures, their numbers might be expected to be in proximity. And Charlotte weeping for Werther, as literary subject in a classical style with no companion figure, seems an unlikely Ralph Wood model, and, if made, might be expected to have had a higher number. I have seen several color-glazed examples of this subject and very many enamel-painted ones, none of which is typical of Ralph Wood.
Halfpenny’s attempt to add to Falkner’s list in around 1990 was flawed in that some of the numbered figures are probably Enoch Wood figures, and some entries prove incorrect.
E. Decorated with enamel colors.
C. Decorated with colored glazes.
U. Undecorated and coated in (relatively) clear glaze only. Nearly all such figures have whitish bodies under the glaze and in their day would have been described as “china glaze.” Touches of gilding remain on some.
B. Unglazed (biscuit).
? I am unsure because my source information is not clear.
My revised list excludes Falkner’s entries for enamel-painted figures of Charlotte weeping for Werther (no. 3), Sportsman (no. 27) and his companion Archer (no. 97). I have not identified a single such figure with Ralph Wood features. Enoch Wood, who impressed numbers of unknown purpose on some of his figures, made many examples of these subjects. Were the Sportsman and Archer Ralph Wood figures, their numbers might be expected to be in proximity. And Charlotte weeping for Werther, as literary subject in a classical style with no companion figure, seems an unlikely Ralph Wood model, and, if made, might be expected to have had a higher number. I have seen several color-glazed examples of this subject and very many enamel-painted ones, none of which is typical of Ralph Wood.
Halfpenny’s attempt to add to Falkner’s list in around 1990 was flawed in that some of the numbered figures are probably Enoch Wood figures, and some entries prove incorrect.
