VINTAGE ROYAL DOULTON SAIREY GAMP VASE RELIEF (3D) 1939

An uncommon piece from the Royal Doulton Dickens Series, featuring Sairey Gamp, an eccentric character from Charles Dickens' novel Martin Chuzzlewit

The vase is moulded and features Sairey Gamp in a relief, 3D London scene.

The pattern number is D5864 and this piece is dated to 1939, a year after Royal Doulton began registering its pieces in Australia.

The vase is in good condition and stands 16.5cm tall.

"Even among the bizarre cast of characters in Dickens,  is a piece of work. She is a nurse of sorts whose specialty lies in the polar extremities of life, the lying in and the laying out." (https://www.charlesdickenspage.com/)

"She was a fat old woman, this Mrs Gamp, with a husky voice and a moist eye, which she had a remarkable power of turning up, and only showing the white of it. Having very little neck, it cost her some trouble to look over herself, if one may say so, at those to whom she talked. She wore a very rusty black gown, rather the worse for snuff, and a shawl and bonnet to correspond. In these dilapidated articles of dress she had, on principle, arrayed herself, time out of mind, on such occasions as the present; for this at once expressed a decent amount of veneration for the deceased, and invited the next of kin to present her with a fresher suit of weeds; an appeal so frequently successful, that the very fetch and ghost of Mrs Gamp, bonnet and all, might be seen hanging up, any hour in the day, in at least a dozen of the second-hand clothes shops about Holborn.

The face of Mrs Gamp--the nose in particular--was somewhat red and swollen, and it was difficult to enjoy her society without becoming conscious of a smell of spirits. Like most persons who have attained to great eminence in their profession, she took to hers very kindly; insomuch that, setting aside her natural predilections as a woman, she went to a lying-in or a laying-out with equal zest and relish." (Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens)

ALERT: Please remember to do FOUR things before you bid or buy! 1. Check our photos as they form part of the description of the item. 2. Note that weights and measurements of jewellery items are indicative and not exact. 3. Check our shipping notes. Because we live in a tiny South African village, we are unable to ship items on a daily basis. 4. Check the other items that The Purple Hat Shop has for sale. We are happy to bundle items to save you shipping costs. https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/2821250/PurpleHatShop