A STAFFORDSHIRE PEARLWARE GROUP OF 'THE DEATH OF MUNROW' CIRCA 1825-35

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

length 13 3/4 in.
34.9 cm

modeled as a large yellow and black striped tiger dragging a uniformed officer in its jaws on a black and white sponged table-base molded around the bottom edge with a flower garland and inscribed THE . DEATH OF . MUNROW (sic). Minor chips and repair, minor retouching to the enamels.

Provenance

D. M. & P. Manheim Antiques, New York
Acquired from the above, 1967

Catalogue Note

The Gentleman's Magazine of July 1793 records the "awful, horrid, and lamentable accident" that befell a certain Mr. Munro. He and his party were hunting on Saugor Island in West Bengal when the unfortunate young man was attacked and carried off by "an immense royal tiger." Rescued by his friends, Munro died of his wounds twenty-four hours later. The incident caused a stir not only in England but in India as well. Tipu Sultan of Mysore derived particular pleasure from the young man's misfortune and commissioned his mechanical toy, the Man-Tyger-Organ. Housed within a life-sized carved and painted wood model of a tiger attacking a European was a mechanical pipe organ, which, when cranked, emitted the growls of a tiger and the screams of its victim. Tipu's Tiger was seized following his death at the Battle of Seringapatum in 1799 and transported to London, where it was put on exhibition at East India House in 1808, Tipu Sultan and his toy continuing to excite the popular imagination for decades and certainly serving as inspiration for the Staffordshire potters.

A similar model of this group sold, Sotheby's, New York, the Estate of S. Carter Burden, October 26, 2002, lot 1543; and another similar example was sold, Sotheby's, New York, April 7, 2004, lot 15.