Pierre Stephan signed both these busts directly into the unfired body indicating that he was not just the sculptor but also the ‘repairer’ who assembled and finished them. The body is a high-fired stoneware which is fairly translucent.

Admiral Lord Duncan (1731 – 1804) was celebrated for his victory over the Dutch fleet at Camperdown on 11 October 1797 after which he was raised to a Viscount.

Admiral Sir John Jervis (1735 – 1823) is best known for his victory over the greatly superior Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on 14 February 1797 in which Nelson also distinguished himself. Jervis was awarded his earldom as a result.

Pierre Stephan is first recorded on September 1770 when he signed a contract with William Duesbury “Peter Stephan of Derby”… Modeller & China or Porcelain Repairer” binding him for three years to “ Employ himself in the Art of modelling and Repairing China or Porcelain Ware… in the Manufactory” for which he was paid the high wage of £2 12s 6d per week. He went on to work at Wirksworth, Wedgwood, Herculaneum and Coalport. He may have also worked for Richard Champion in Bristol and even seems to have run his own potworks in Staffordshire. He is not known to have worked in any other material than ceramics.

Llewellyn Jewitt, who knew his son, stated that he was French and his descendants claimed Huguenot extraction. Mireille Jottrand found reference to four “elemens de Stephane” in Tournai documents 1769, but Hilary Young suggests that this was likely to have been another member of the same family.

An unsigned example of Lord Duncan with the impressed Herculaneum mark is in the Victoria and Albert Museum given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber (414:1119-1885).

Condition:
Good

Provenance:
Mercury Antiques
Private Collection, Washington, D.C.

Literature:

Young 2000
Hilary Young, ‘Pierre Stephan: The Career of a Derby Modeller Reviewed’, Derby Porcelain International Society, Journal 4, p. 88, fig. 6

Price: £3,200