The Eugene & Lucille Fleischer Collection of English and Continental Stirrup Cups
The collection of hundreds of stirrup cups assembled by Eugene Fleischer is as fine and comprehensive as any likely to be encountered. Renowned for his ceramic collections (his fine collection of Staffordshire and other 18th and 19th century English ceramics was sold to acclaim by Freeman’s in 2007), Eugene Fleischer gathered these stirrup cups over several decades, during visits to England and through well-established contacts on both sides of the pond.
While the focus naturally lies on pieces made in the Potteries of North Staffordshire, England, there are also examples from Meissen and others; and several fine and rare silver cups, including Russian, German, English and American. While they generally run true to form, and comprise the head of an animal – usually a fox, but also a trout, a moose, a hound, a boar, or a bulldog, there also are several more unusual examples, including a satyrs head, a hand, a group of deer, an upside-down sailors face, or bishops face inverting to show the devil. There is also a wide variety of finishes and glazes on display, from bisque and polychrome to lusterware and thick majolica.
Taken as a whole, the Eugene Fleischer collection of ceramic stirrup cups is a celebration of the English vernacular – the various forms and decorative schemes a testament to the creativity and whimsy of the provincial English potters of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Information courtesy of Freeman’s, May 2013.