Charlotte County Florida Weekly

Go figure: This pair of bisque beauties sparks a memory

COLLECTOR’S CORNER



This figure owned by my grandmother was broken and repaired in the 1930s. SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

This figure owned by my grandmother was broken and repaired in the 1930s. SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

There was a time when everyone’s grandmother decorated with figurines.

You’d see them on a table — whimsical porcelain people dressed in the garb of another era. They might have been Hummel figurines, especially if the lady of the house began collecting in the years after World War II.

Or, in humbler households, they were Japanese pieces available at stores like Woolworth.

My maternal grandmother was no exception — she referred to them as her “ornaments.”

Most of the items she had were figurines she inherited from her grandparents, and they stood on the mantel of her Fort Myers home.

I close my eyes and their faces stare at me from across the decades — the neoclassical lady serenely smiling as she curtseys in a green gown, the 18thcentury lad in pink who doffs his hat for eternity.

They were elegant, probably were made in Germany and definitely were of another era.

Alas, they also were badly damaged.

There even was a story in that.

 

 

After she married in 1937, Grandma asked her grandmother if she might have some of the figurines and other treasures my great-great-grandmother had tucked away in a storeroom after selling her house.

Grandma took the pieces home to the apartment she and my grandfather shared at his parents’ house, where she proudly displayed them.

They were fine until my great-grandmother’s maid knocked several over while cleaning, breaking the arm and the base of the lady in green and fracturing the arm of the man in pink.

My great-grandfather, an artist and inventor, set to repairing the pieces, using white glue and wood putty to reassemble them.

The glue eventually turned brown, and the figures had to be reglued many times, but they were proudly displayed.

Each November, Grandma would lovingly wash those “ornaments” to put them away so we could decorate the mantel for Christmas.

And as she set the figures aside she told the stories that went with them — how this one came from her grandfather’s family, and that one always stood in a cabinet he built. Nearly half a century later, the stories all blend together.

These Kate Greenaway-style figures stand at just over 12½ inches tall. SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

These Kate Greenaway-style figures stand at just over 12½ inches tall. SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

But if there is one thing I can promise you, it is this: No stories ever were sweeter than those. Ah, the memories. ¦

THE FIND: A pair of Kate Greenaway-style bisque figurines

Bought: St. Mark’s Thrift Shop, 208 U.S. Highway 1, Lake Park; 561-863-8516.

Paid: $3 apiece.

The Skinny: Kate Greenaway was a popular Victorian illustrator whose paintings and drawings of children dressed in 18th-century garb captured the imaginations of parents in the second half of the 19th century.

In time, Greenaway’s illustrations sparked a style that was named for her.

You can see how her work inspired figurines such as these, made in Germany in the 1880s.

At just over 12½ inches, the figures would have been impressive on a middle class mantelpiece of the day. And the subject matter — rosy-cheeked children holding broken toys — would have been in line with the Victorian taste for whimsy.

The figures are heavy bisque and are attractively painted. They also are in good condition — no chips, no repairs.

At $3 apiece, they were far too pretty to leave behind. ¦

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *