A pair of Regency painted plaster chinoiserie figures circa 1815

in the Brighton Pavilion style, with nodding heads, holding lamps with painted frosted glass shades, adapted for electricity

Mrs Dolly Mann, 33 Mount Street, London.

These are fun and decorative pieces. Overall in reasonable condition. Some areas of paintwork refreshed and some chips to painted surface, notably to the face of one figure. Repaired breaks to hands of both figures. Minor old chips and marks commensurate with age and medium. Adapted later as lamps for electricity.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Chinese nodding-head figures are documented in England and Continental Europe as early as the 1760's and 1770's and Zoffany's famous portrait depicting Queen Charlotte in her Dressing Room at Buckingham Palace painted in 1764 shows two such figures in the background (see C. Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth Century Decoration, New York, 1993, p. 255, fig. 246). 
Nodding-head figures were imported into England, Europe and America from Canton in large numbers from the 1780's. The great interest in these figures in England is derived in large part from the personal tastes of the Prince of Wales (later George IV) during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. The Prince's interest in Chinese decoration was first expressed in his Chinese Drawing Room at Carlton House; however his sudden inspiration to achieve an Oriental interior at Brighton Pavilion was prompted in 1802. The final achievement, an ornate palace of fantastical proportions and exotic furnishings, was due to the combined efforts of the Prince himself and his principal designers, John and Frederick Crace, over the next twenty-five years. A number of Chinese figures of this type were prominently displayed in the corridor of the Pavilion (see J. Morley, The Making of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, Boston, 1984, pp. 169-176). 

Dolly Mann, neé Florence Sabine Paisley, was a fashionable interior decorator in the 1930s who married Harrington Mann, the Scottish painter. Her clientele, amongst others, included Edward James, the Surrealist painter of West Dean, West Sussex.