Bow model of a red squirrel, c.1760-65 – £20,000 at Bonhams.
As the item was imported from outside the EU, a tax of 5% was due on the hammer price and the buyer’s premium.
Naturalistically modelled, and near life-size at 8½in (21cm) high, this model seems to be based on a white Chelsea model produced during the Triangle Period that in turn was probably derived from a Meissen original.
A very similar pair of Bow squirrels is illustrated by Frank Stoner in Chelsea, Bow and Derby Porcelain Figures (1955), while the four-footed scrolling base is one known on a number of Bow figures of this period.
