Object Description
Staffordshire Pottery group with a folklore theme which features a lady with a lion and tiger (decorated as a leopard), stood on a shaped base. The piece is titled, ‘Death of the Lion Queen’. Dull gilt titles and embellishment. Decorated mainly to the front. Vent hole to the underside. This piece represents Ellen Bright, the lion trainer. In 1850, whilst performing in Chatham with a lion and tiger, the latter seized her by the throat and killed her before she could be rescued. The affair led to the prohibition of such performances by women but the leading menageries continued to have ‘lion kings’. Book reference ,’Victorian Staffordshire Figures 1835-1875′ Book 1, by A.& N. Harding, page 32, figure 49.