"An Amazing Find" (See the backstamps)
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Our local three-day fair and always something of interest, but an exceptional find was waiting for us on this occasion. A small label reading "Clarice Cliff" at the foot of a model clad in an Eighteenth Century dress. We looked in astonishment, never having seen anything remotely similar in our many years collecting Clarice. We examined the base, a perfect C.C. signature with the date 1925 inscribed under-glaze, with the small lion backstamp reading Royal Staffordshire Potteries, Wilkinson Ltd, Burslem, England.

It had been purchased at auction by the dealer who primarily dealt in Doulton and Coalport type figurines, and was thought to be part of a house clearance sale, there being numerous other items carrying a similar code number. There was no mistaking the signature and backstamp. We made the purchase.

Back home we compared the signature with many other examples. We had not been mistaken, this was a genuine C.C. signature, the date 1925 was Clarice's final year at the Burslem School of Art where she had attended evening courses since 1922. Could this be her final examination piece? We drew the comparison with Susie Cooper's Spanish Dancer, done at the same school, on the same course, with the same Art Instructor, Gordon Forsyth, and the same type of conventional figure.

Our thoughts turned towards a similar model that Clarice had made in 1924, The Delecia Woman. A good picture was available in the 1989 calendar by Image of Hertfordshire. The similarity was striking, both models had obviously visited the same hairstylist. Style, curls and colour were identical.

The wooden plinth the model was standing on had been custom made with a chiselled out rebate to take the base of the figure, including a small chip on the base of the model. The plinth resembled the one that Clarice took out a patent on in 1930, for use at her exhibitions, and illustrated on p30 of "The Bizarre Affair".

We contacted Hanley Reference Library asking them to check their files and sent a photograph. It did not appear on any of the available Wilkinson files and they explained that records had never been kept of students' work from the Burslem School of Art.

An appointment was kept with Mr. Alexander Clement, the Curator at Royal Doulton, for his opinion on the figurine. He said it was of very high quality in terms of modelling, casting, fettling and decorating. He explained that the signature and date could only have been etched into the base in the unfired state. the green clay condition, and in his opinion the style and feel of the figure was correct for the 1925 date inscribed. This, he said, was almost impossible to replicate.

An old friend, Jim Hall, Marjory Higginson's husband, was asked for his opinion. Jim had worked in the kilns for Clarice and until his retirement was employed as an international ceramics consultant. Jim stated that the figure carried a striking resemblance to the Delecia Woman that Clarice had modelled twelve months earlier, also noting that Colley Shorter had given Clarice her own studio for modelling in 1926 and in 1927 had sent her to the Kensington Royal College of Art, on a modelling course. He concluded that Clarice, who in 1925 was 26 years of age was an accomplished modeller and quite capable of producing a figure of this quality.

Another dear friend, Rene Dale, was shown the figure. Rene said it was an amazing find, and in her opinion was indeed a Clarice Cliff piece. She went on to describe a clay model that Clarice had been working on in the cellar of her house in Fuller St, Tunstall. This was of her sister Ethel (1). Rene said that Clarice was fascinated by modelling and spoke of her consuming love of the art. Comparing the figure with the picture of the Delecia Woman she said there was a distinct similarity between the two, in particular the style and colour of the hair. Who would argue with Rene on style !

I recall a comment once made by Cissy Rhodes. who soon after Starting at Wilkinson's took a message to Clarice in her studio and saw her modelling a bust of Mr. Arthur Shorter commissioned by Colley. Her thoughts at the time were "what a clever lady".

I took the opportunity of speaking to the proprietor of the auction house where the figurine had first made its appearance. Details of the vendor are always to confidential, but the auctioneer agreed to phone for me to ask some questions. The vendor, a lady, said it had come to her from an aged aunt, recently deceased, who had lived in Scarborough. She recalled seeing it in her aunt's house as far back as the 1930s and 40s. Her aunt had been a collector of various items. She had no knowledge of where her aunt had purchased it, but promised to inquire through the family. Harrogate is within easy reach of Scarborough and Fancies Fares were regularly held there. Could Clarice have put it on display and been persuaded to sell ?

Clarice was a lady with secrets, in fact she named what has been said to be her favourite pattern "Secrets", two cottages standing adjacent, with smoke from the chimneys spiralling upwards, very symbolic!

The forefinger of the right hand of the model carries a ring very clearly decorated with a Turquoise stone. This spells to the initiated "True love". I doubt very much if the choice of stone was done at random. This was the period of hidden messages and Clarice would have been fully aware of these. Had she Colley in mind when she made this choice?

I have no doubt she had her parents in mind when she modelled a brim full of flowers around the bonnet the lady is carrying. Remember her relating tales of country walks made by her mother and father when they were courting, and of Harry picking honeysuckle to place in Ann’s bonnet. Childhood memories, they last forever.

Clarice's frequently stated ambition was to be a sculptress. This beautifully modelled lady, done during her final year at Art School, must represent her very best. She obviously thought so, as she proudly signed it with her full signature and the date. How fitting that its discovery should coincide with her centenary year, coming out of the shadows where it has lain for 74 years, into the sunshine, bringing me to the obvious choice of name for the lady, The Sunshine Girl.

1. According to Rene, this model of Ethel was never fired, remaining in the cellar until it finally Crumbled to pieces. I have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the bust of Mr A. Shorter.