A Staffordshire figure of Robert Burns and Mary Campbell, ci...

Hammer

£15

A Staffordshire figure of Robert Burns and Mary Campbell, circa 1850, modelled as lovers in Scottish dress, embracing under a moulded arboreal arch, decorated with thistles and applied clay foliate 'tufts', a seated dog modelled to the foreground, mounted on a gilt-lined, ovoid base inscribed 'Burns & HD Mary' (Highland Mary), 32.5cm high. Note: ‘Highland Mary’ was the nickname given to Mary Campbell, with whom Robert Burns had a passionate love affair in 1786. Cut short by Mary’s untimely death, Burns was inspired to write the song ‘Highland Mary’ to mourn his lost love: “But oh! fell Death's untimely frost, That nipt my Flower sae early! Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay That wraps my Highland Mary!”