A kilted Scottish piper stands beside a sheep in this hand-painted Staffordshire flatback, capturing the romanticised Highland scenes that swept through Victorian England after Queen Victoria's very public devotion to Scotland took hold. These figures were made for the mantelpiece, flat-backed and bold, designed to be seen and admired from across a room. Produced in the Staffordshire potteries around the mid-19th century, they represent folk ceramics at its most honest and unpretentious. This example carries the warm, naive modelling that defines the best of the genre, with minor age-related wear and a natural patina that speaks to its authenticity. It sits beautifully on a mantel, shelf, or beside books and botanicals.
