Brown Glazed Folk Art Signed Clay Lion in the Manner of John Bell slab decorated I'm really smitten with this

I'm really smitten with this sweet little "naive" pencil drawing of a hillside village

In 1955 she and Foster established their own pottery studio in Mahone Bay

were at some point added to the underside

and there is a signature carved into one handle

Brown Glazed Folk Art Signed Clay Lion in the Manner of John Bell slab decorated I'm really smitten with thisI don't know the age or much about the origins of this charming lion, but I do know it came from Pennsylvania, and certainly it bears a strong resemblance to the iconic folk art lion of John Bell (18001880) from the Shenandoah Valley, which itself bore the influence of Staffordshire and Rockingham lions from the mid 18th c. This one is signed Dorlisa (or possibly Dorlida) Lyons (appropriately) and I think it honors its predecessors quite nicely, and