Hercules and Omphale

Possibly Arthur Hurst (1857-1940), York, England, by 1940 [1];

Possibly purchased at his posthumous sale, The Well-Known Collection of Old English Porcelain, The Property of Arthur Hurst, Esq. (decd.), The Second Portion, Sotheby & Co., London, November 28, 1940, lot 40, by Tilley [2];

Theodore David (1906–1981) and Anne Millard (née Bennett, 1912–1996) Barclay, Higham, Suffolk and London, by 1948-1953 [3];

Purchased at their sale, Catalogue of a fine collection of Worcester porcelain ... early Chelsea porcelain, Sotheby’s London, January 27, 1953, lot 140, by Hanns Weinberg [4];

To The Antique Porcelain Co., Inc., New York, by 1962 [5];

To Michele Beiny, Inc., New York, by 2025 [6];

Purchased from Michele Beiny, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2025.

NOTES:

[1] Arthur Hurst was a former railway official from York who bequeathed much of his decorative arts collection to the V&A Museum and the British Museum. The remainder was sold at a series of London auctions, 1940-1941. Due to the difficulty inherent in differentiating between versions of objects created in multiples - such as this porcelain group - in historic literature, it is not certain the Hercules and Omphale piece owned by Hurst is in fact the Nelson-Atkins example. The height of the Hurst piece, however, is listed in the auction catalogue as 8 1/2 inches. The Nelson-Atkins version is the only known version of this height that could also have been in this sale. Versions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (9 inches), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (8 7/8 inches) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (9.3 inches) are recorded as slightly taller, although these size differences could be negligible.

[2] See note 1. The buyer was likely Frank Tilley, a London dealer who published several books and articles on English ceramics. He is listed as the buyer in the catalogue's price list.

[3] Lent to the English Ceramic Circle exhibition, English Pottery and Porcelain , Victoria & Albert Museum, London, May 5–June 20, 1948, no. 254 (ill., plate 54), as by Chelsea, by Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Barclay, presumably Theodore David and Anne Millard Barclay.

[4] “The Sale Room: £950 for Chelsea Whites Porcelain Group,” London Times (January 28, 1953): 8. Hanns Weinberg founded the Antique Porcelain Company in London in 1946 and opened a New York branch in 1957.

[5] Listed as owned by The Antique Porcelain Co., Inc., New York, in Arthur Lane and R. J. Charleston, “Girl in a Swing Porcelain and Chelsea,” The English Ceramic Circle Transactions 5, part 3 (1962): 139.

[6] Dealer Michele Beiny Harkins, President of Michele Beiny, Inc., is the granddaughter of Hanns Weinberg, owner of the Antique Porcelain Company.