The cockerel is modelled in a crowing attitude, with head erect, beak open and depicted standing on a rockwork base.
The plumage is moulded and detailed in a strong Kakiemon palette, the tail feathers meeting the iron oxide-washed base to form a third support, 27.7cm high.
It appears in the 1763 Burghley Inventory: ‘the North dressing room … a colour’d china cock.’
A cockerel is the tenth creature of the zodiac and a symbol of reliability, though when crowing, as here, it is symbolic of achievement and fame.
