Vintage Lladro Little Girl with Cat Figurine 1187 – Retired Child Petting a Kitten, Juan Huerta, Pastel Handmade Porcelain Spain, 1980s
AvailableA little girl in a pinafore leans down to a kitten at her feet, tail curled up to meet her hand. This is Lladró #1187, "Little Girl with Cat" — sculpted by Juan Huerta, made from 1972 until it was retired in 1990, from the gentle Friendship line that Lladró built its name on. About nine inches, in the soft grey-and-white with a blush of colour that reads as a Lladró at a glance.
Girl-and-animal scenes like this are the heart of what Lladró made — not limited art pieces but a kind of mass-produced tenderness, and lovely for it. She is a genuine one, marked underneath with the blue bellflower and Lladró · Hand Made in Spain, and she has survived whole: the kitten's fine upturned tail, the girl's fingers and the little slipper under her hem — the delicate parts that usually chip first — are all still there.
The colour, as always with Lladró, is fused into the glaze in a single high firing — no hard edges, a quiet sheen.
Details
- Type
- Porcelain figurine
- Maker
- Lladró, Valencia, Spain
- Model
- #1187 "Little Girl with Cat", sculpted by Juan Huerta (Friendship collection)
- Era
- c. 1980s (blue printed mark; model issued 1972, retired 1990)
- Design
- Girl in a pinafore leaning to a kitten at her feet
- Size
- ~9" / 23 cm tall (as catalogued; measured against rule)
- Material
- Glazed porcelain
- Markings
- Blue bellflower logo, Lladró · Hand Made in Spain, impressed model number
Backstamp & Pattern
- Maker
- Lladró, Valencia, Spain
- Era
- c. 1980s (blue printed mark; model issued 1972, retired 1990)
- Mark on base
- Blue bellflower logo, Lladró · Hand Made in Spain, impressed model number
The base carries the maker's printed mark; the wording — especially “England” versus “Made in England” versus “Bone China” — together with any pattern or registration number are the main clues to its age.
Read the full backstamp & pattern guide → How to date English china →
