Eleanor Coade (d.1821) opened her Lambeth Manufactory
for ceramic artificial stone in 1769, and appointed the sculptor John Bacon as
its manager two years later. She was employed by all the leading late 18th Century
architects. From about 1777 she began her engraved designs, which were
published in 1784 in a catalogue of over 700 items entitled A Descriptive Catalogue of Coade's Artificial Stone
Manufactory.
Then in 1799, the year she entered
into partnership with her cousin John Sealy, she issued a handbook of her Pedlar's
Lane exhibition Gallery. The firm became Coade and Sealey from this date and following
Sealey's death in 1813, it reverted to Coade and in 1821 with the death of the younger
Eleanor Coade, control of the firm passed to William Croggan, who died in 1835,
following bankruptcy. Coade's manufactures resembling a fine-grained natural
stone, have always been famed for their durability.
Literature:
Mrs Coade's Stone, by Alison Kelly,SPA, 1990, pages 127,134,206
and 263
Garden ornament
Condition: Minor chips and marks as you would expect. Has had restorations to fingers and sand timer and possibly big toes or could be old ones pinned back on. Given age, good condition.
