A PAIR OF DERBY PORCELAIN FIGURES OF MANSION HOUSE DWARFS, circa 1820, of sporting interest, the corpulent figures wearing richly painted costume picked out in gold, their large hats bearing advertisements, the moustached dwarf carrying a stick, with a pugilistic poster announcing a boxing match between Josh Hudson and Sampson, the younger dwarf with a poster for an auction sale of hunting stock, with vignettes in puce respectively depicting a boxing match and horses on their backs, raised on mound bases applied with flowers, 18cm and 17cm high, incised 'No. 227', the shorter dwarf with crown above crossed batons and D mark in red (2) FOOTNOTES: These models are based engravings by Jacques Callot of a troupe of performing dwarfs who visited the Medici court in Florence. The term 'Mansion House Dwarf' derives from a Tudor father and son who stood outside the Guildhall in London carrying advertisements for a fee. See Peter Bradshaw, 'Derby Porcelain Figures' (1990), pp.312-13. The boxing match referred to in the advertisement on the larger dwarf is likely to relate to fight which took place on 3 March 1821 at Banstead Downs in Surrey, which lasted for just 32 minutes, and in which pugilist Josh Hudson proved victorious.