Santa Filomena

Parian figurine, 1870-1885, England.

A niche at the top of a curving staircase was a design device aimed at drawing people up the stairs.  At Roseland, the niche holds a figure of Saint Filomena, the patron saint of infants, babies, and youth–not a surprising choice for a family with so many children. The original version of this figure was designed by the English sculptor Joseph Durham (1814-1877) for the Copeland pottery of Staffordshire, England, in 1865.