A fine Copeland Parian group of Emily and the White Doe

A beautiful Copeland Parian group of Emily and the white doe after the marble by Felix Martin Miller.

The marble was exhibited in 1859 with the first Parian examples in 1861. This finely detailed statue represents Emily Norton of Rylstone from William Wordsworth’s poem “Emily and the White Doe”. Emily, the only survivor of a prominent Elizabethan Catholic family, was comforted by visits of a white doe.  The portrayal is based on the illustrations by Myles Birket Foster to Wordsworth’s poem.

Note in particular the detailing on the foxgloves, the hat, the hands, the bible and the little satchel attached to her belt. The rock Emily sits on has the words “Norton of Rylstone” and an engraved lion.

A large version of this group was exhibited by Copeland at the Great Exhibition in 1862. Copeland subsequently gave that copy to the Victoria and Albert Museum https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O307913/figure-group-miller-felix-martin/#object-details

The figure is illustrated in The Parian Phenomenon page 169 fig 557 and in Robert Copeland’s book Parian, Copeland’s Statuary Porcelain page 101. The figure also features in the photograph on page 11 of the Parian Phenomenon (under the glass dome on the left) as one of a Victorian Parian collection.

Height 47cm (18½“) ; Length 33cm (13”)

Condition: Very good. There is one chip on the edge of the base and some roughness round the base edge.