Royal Doulton | ‘Celeste’ | HN 2237 | Peggy Davies | Bone China Figure | 1959–1971
Chin lifted, one hand at her hair: a pause between dances, held still in bone china.
‘Celeste’, HN 2237, was modelled by Peggy Davies, one of Royal Doulton’s best-known figure modellers. The design is dated 1958 on the backstamp, and the figure was in production from 1959 to 1971.
The figure shows a young woman in a turquoise gown that shades to pale aqua at the hem, the full skirt swinging out to one side as she turns. A white collar is painted with pink bows, the puffed sleeves are banded in black, and a black ribbon bow sits at one shoulder, with a black sash tied at the waist and its long ends trailing. One hand is raised to her fair hair, which is held by a turquoise ribbon band; the other rests against her skirt. The base carries the green Royal Doulton lion-and-crown backstamp, the title and HN number, “Copr 1958 Doulton & Co Limited”, four registration numbers and the decorator’s painted initials “NH”.
Excellent condition.
Key Details
Maker: Royal Doulton, England
Model: ‘Celeste’, HN 2237
Modeller: Peggy Davies
Material: hand-decorated bone china
Marks: green printed lion-and-crown backstamp “Made in England, Royal Doulton, England, Bone China”; “Celeste HN 2237, Copr 1958 Doulton & Co Limited”; Rd Nos 889055, 38021, 8008 and 262/58; painted initials “NH”
Date: produced 1959–1971; design copyright 1958
Dimensions: height 18 cm
Weight: 330 g
Included: figure only; no box or certificate
Condition: excellent
Buyer profile: collectors of Royal Doulton lady figures and Peggy Davies designs, and anyone looking for a mid-century porcelain figure in turquoise
Collector Appeal
‘Celeste’ belongs to Peggy Davies’s mid-century designs for Royal Doulton, with a production period generally recorded as 1959–1971. The green factory backstamp, registration details and painted decorator’s initials record its manufacture, and the sweeping skirt, lifted face and balanced pose give the figure the sense of movement typical of Davies’s work.
She has been looking up for more than sixty years, as if the music were about to start again.
