A Flight, Barr & Barr Worcester Porcelain Vase titled 'The Strawberry Girl' c.1815 - 1820

A Flight, Barr and Barr Worcester Porcelain Vase c.1815 - 1820. Of Campana form, the front decorated with a finely painted panel of 'The Strawberry Girl', in the manner of John Pennington, after an original painting by Joshua Reynolds, all reserved on a green ground, with two gilded loop handles with leaf terminals and small white 'pearls' around the rim. Impressed FBB and script factory mark referring to Coventry Street address along with the title 'The Strawberry Girl' in red to the base. 

The Strawberry Girl by Joshua Reynolds (1723- 1792)  is an example of Reynolds’s so-called ‘fancy pictures’, which typically showed children in sentimental costume or guises. In this case, the subject was adapted from the real-life figure of a strawberry seller. However, Reynolds’s depiction of a child is not consistent with contemporary representations of the subject and this aspect appears to have been the artist’s own invention. Similarly, Reynolds has removed the figure from its traditional urban setting and portrayed her in an exotic costume (the turban is particularly curious). The innovativeness of Reynolds’s design may account for its popularity; certainly the artist himself is known to have considered the Strawberry Girl to be his most original and successful work.

Condition. Professional restoration to a break to the stem of the vase, a chip to the front of the vase just above the painted panel and restored chips to the base.