Figure, trade figure

This carved wooden figure is believed to represent Pocahontas or the 'Indian Queen'. Although acquired by the London Museum in 1912 its earlier history is unknown. As the figure is shown wearing a headdress and skirt of tobacco, it is most likely to have been used as a tobacconist's trade figure. As Pocahontas was associated with the Jamestown settlement in Virginia it is possible that such a figure would have been placed at the entrance to a tobaconnists shop to indicate that Virginian tobacco was sold within. The figure is, however, very similar to a ships' figurehead of the time. Shop figures were mostly made around Harp Alley, Shoe Lane, in the City of London while ships' figurehead carvers were located close by in Wapping, Limehouse and Rotherhithe. Some carvers would have worked in both fields as the figures used for both purposes were often quite similar in size and style.