Lot 108: CONRAD DRESSLER

Victorian plaster bust of Henry Morton Stanley by Conrad Dressler, head and shoulders, facing forward, the reverse inscribed 'Conrad Dressler 1886', on shaped rectangular plinth inscribed 'Stanley Africanus' above a foliate frieze with lion's-masks and paws at the angles, on plain apron, 27 5/8in. (70cm.) high Conrad Dressler (1856-1940) studied at the Royal College of Art completing his studies in Paris. Encouraged by John Ruskin (whose bust by Dressler is in the National Gallery), he worked as a potter with Harold Rathbone and later with William De Morgan, and inventing the tunnel kiln. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1883. This bust was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887, no.1894, and at the Stanley and African Exhibition at the Victoria Gallery in 1890, described on p.38 of the exhibition catalogue as 'Bust of Henry M. Stanley (taken just previously to his starting on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition), by Conrad Dressler', and illustrated in the 'General View of the Exhibition' (in the exhibition catalogue) opposite p.12.