Bronzed earthenware. Impressed verso with the marker’s mark Wood & Caldwell.
This bust was produced at Burslem, one of the six towns that formed the Potteries of Stoke-on-Trent. It was made by Enoch Wood and James Caldwell, manufacturers of earthenware between circa 1790 and July 1818 when the firm became known as Enoch Wood and Sons. It is based on the famous marble by Joseph Nollekens, R.A. (1737-1823) which was reproduced as an engraving E. Bocquet in 1815. Wellington sat to Nollekens in 1809 before returning to the Peninsula, where he remained continuously until 1814. Wood & Caldwell also produced patriotic busts of Nelson (see example in the NMRN, Portsmouth) and Britain’s ally Tsar Alexander I of Russia (see example in V&A, South Kensington).