Vintage Royal Doulton The Master Figurine HN2325 – Countryman with Dog & Walking Stick, Green Coat, Bone China, England

A Royal Doulton bone-china figure of an old countryman and his dog — "The Master," a gentleman in a green coat and riding boots seated on a log, a walking stick across his knee, his hat set down beside him, and a faithful spaniel leaning in against his side. It is one of Doulton's warmest country characters: not doing anything, just an old man and his dog at rest together.

The figure was modelled by Peggy Davies, one of Royal Doulton's most celebrated twentieth-century sculptors — the hand behind many of the firm's best-loved HN figures — and her name is printed into the base. The modelling is gentle and observed: the stoop of the shoulders, the quiet face, the dog's trusting lean.

The underside carries the green Royal Doulton mark with HN2325, the title The Master, Modelled by Peggy Davies, and © Royal Doulton Tableware Limited 1966, with a small painter's initial (DM) and the oval The Master label still in place. Issued in 1967 and made until 1992, it is now retired.

As with any Royal Doulton figure, the fragile points — the walking stick, the hat brim, the dog's ears and muzzle, the fingers — are worth a close look in hand; nothing is visibly chipped or restored in the photographs.

A figure for the Royal Doulton and Peggy Davies collector, for the country-gentleman shelf, for a dog lover, or as a retirement or elder's gift with real sentiment in it. It pairs naturally with Doulton's Gamekeeper as a country-life set.