When one thinks of Royal Doulton one automatically pictures Doulton figures. Amongst the most popular figures ever produced at Burslem are the creations of Arthur Leslie Harradine (shown here relaxing at home with his wife. Behind her you can see a cabinet of white figures sent to him for approval).

Apprenticed to Doulton at the beginning of the 20th Century, he began working for them once again on a freelance basis after WWI. His first creations for the HN range coincide with the dawn of the 1920’s and also the beginnings of the commercial success of Charles Noke’s revival of the long neglected production of Staffordshire china figures.

Charles Noke, Art Director at Doulton’s Burslem factory, had for the previous decade been determined to revive the production of china figures, and had approached many leading sculptors of the time such as Phoebe Stabler and Ernest Light, but ironically it was with the home-grown talent of Harradine that Noke’s range was to be acclaimed as the pinnacle of china figure production in England and around the world.

The 20’s saw re-newed freedom for women and this too is reflected in the HN range. However, it was not so much the social changes that defined the era but the emergence of a new phenomena, the so-called Flapper, a term for girls who were shortening their skirts, bobbing their hair, wearing makeup, smoking and drinking and going out with young men without chaperones. Fashions of the time played a hugely important role in inspiring Harradine’s figures. 

The theatre clearly played an important role as ‘the’ pastime of the era. Figures with a theatrical background include  Harlequinade, Pierette and Columbine.