337 - AUSTIN & SEELEY- A RARE COMPOSITION STONE FIGURE OF SIR JEFFREY HUDSON ON PEDESTALMID/LATE 19TH CENTURYModelled in the armour of the Holy Roman Emperor202cm high overall, pedestal 48.5cm squareLiterature:Nick Page, Lord Minimus: The Extraordinary Life of Britain's Smallest Man, HarperCollins, London, 2002.Austin & Seeley, Collection of ornaments at Austin & Seeley's artificial stone works, 1841, illustrated page 9, titled “Sir Geoffrey Hudson”. Jeffrey Hudson (1619- circa 1682) was a servant at the courtof Charles I celebrated for his small stature - at the age of 30 he reached aheight of 42 or 45 inches. The son of a keeper to George Villiers, 1st Duke ofBuckingham, he was introduced at the age of nine to the Duchess of Buckinghamin 1626. The Duchess, in a coup de theatre at a banquet given to Charles I and hisyoung French wife Queen Henrietta Maria, concealed Hudson in a large pie from which he emerged in full armourdelighting the young Queen. He entered the service of the Queen and wasknighted by the King and gained the nickname “Lord Minimus”. His career atcourt ended ignobly when he shot and killed the Queen's Master of Horse WilliamCrofts in a duel. Expelled from her court he was later captured by Barbarypirates and spent twenty-five years as a slave in North Africa before returningto England. In 1676 he was accused of involvement in the 'Popish Plot' withTitus Oates and was imprisoned in Gatehouse Prison for four years.A comparable example of this rare figure was sold Christie's London, Quai d'Orsay, Paris - An Apartment by Jacques Grange, 19th November 2010, lot 803 (£16,250 inc. premium).