Titania and Bottom

ca.1853 · Figure group

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Titania and Bottom” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.

Victoria and Albert Museum

London, United Kingdom

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 14 days ago
In this state since: Sep 25, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the sculpture

This figure group is made of Parian ware, the unglazed development of biscuit porcelain which became very popular after the Staffordshire firm of Copeland and Garrett introduced it in 1842 as a medium for busts, statuettes and reliefs. Several potteries marketed it under a different name but Parian ware became its generic name after Minton used 'Parian' to suggest Paros, the Greek island which supplied stone used for Classical statuary. Parian ware was not cheap but gave households the semblance of owning a marble bust or figurine, previously only afforded by the very wealthy.

Read on

The Worcester firm started their production of Parian relatively late, but after they launched a range at the Dublin Exhibition in 1853, their chief modeller James Hadley (1837-1903) created a large number of decorative and useful wares for them. This group was modelled by William Boynton Kirk (1824-1900), another of Worcester's modellers who produced twelve different figure groups for Worcester depicting characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Bottom is shown here after Puck has changed his head to that of an ass, and has applied magic juice to Titania's eyes so that she sees him as a handsome object of adoration.

Victoria and Albert Museum