ENGLISH STAFFORDSHIRE HAND-PAINTED FLAT BACK CERAMIC FIGURAL GROUP SPILL VASES, LOT OF FOUR, each on oval bases with bright polychrome decorations, comprising one example featuring a shepherd and shepherdess with sheep and spaniel at their feet, one example depicting "BURNS / AND HIS / MARY" featuring a gentleman wearing a kilt with his arm around a woman holding a book, one example having a kilted man sitting on a rock wall beside a filled-in tree-form vase with a goat gazing up at him, and one "Good Companions" example with a cow and horse drinking from a flowing well with birds perched on arches above. Third quarter 19th century. 9 5/8" to 11 3/4" HOA.
Three undamaged, except each having moderate crazing with some minor expected wear to enamel decorations; man with goat example having restoration to man's chest and tree with radial hairline to underside base.
Literature: The Hardings - Victorian Staffordshire Figures, 1835-1875: Burns example parallels Book One p. 37, fig. 62; "Good Companions" parallels Book Two p. 256, fig. 2999; shepherd parallels Book Three p. 91, fig. a1984A.
Provenance: From the James Dunn collection, Springfield, VT.

Three undamaged, except each having moderate crazing with some minor expected wear to enamel decorations; man with goat example having restoration to man's chest and tree with radial hairline to underside base.