In peacetime or during a war, interactions between soldiers and civilians are impossible to avoid. This is why many displays will eventually find themselves in need of a non-military character. Within many of its major collections, King and Country produced several of those civilian figures. However, there are some collections that are a bit forgotten when it comes to this specific range. Fortunately, there are sometimes clever ways to combine pieces from different collections to achieve a nice result. With that said, the recent LoJ050 - The Donkey Boy Set will surely be quite appreciated to complete various desert displays!

The LoJ050 is a figure from the Life of Jesus collection. This collection started as a nativity scene to put under the Christmas Tree and slowly expanded to depict the occupied Judea by the Romans. Obviously, it’s punctuated with pieces inspired by biblical scenes but it also contains many civilians amongst which the L0J050 is the most recent one.

The whole nativity scene by King and Country - Photo from Worthpoint.

This figure represents a young boy standing beside a donkey. During antiquity, the donkeys were one of the most popular domesticated animals. Its relationship with humans dates back to 5000 - 6000 years ago, making it one of the earliest working beasts available. They quickly were used for field work, carrying goods and travelling. The donkey in this set is used for transportation and is equipped with a finely decorated saddle. Colorful triangular and striped motifs are painted on both sides. The lack of stirrups on this piece makes it compatible with almost any time period as stirrups arrived quite late in some places, but still were not always used with donkeys. The donkey’s coat close to a kulan also brings a nice variety within the various donkeys produced by King and Country that are usually brown or grey.

The boy in this set wears a long lined garment, sandals and a brimless cap. He carries a stick for walking and probably guiding the donkey. His arm is extended to secure the beast as he stands beside it. This boy is not supposed to be the owner of the donkey, but just the one who leads the beast. In fact, it is suggested in the description that this set should accompany the LoJ049 - The Good Samaritan.

The LoJ050 and LoJ049, a suggestion presented by King and Country.

This figure was designed for the Life of Jesus collection but is compatible with other themes. The boy’s hat is close to the ones worn in modern northern Africa. Therefore, he could be a boy curious about troops from the 8th army or the Afrikakorps. He could also be a camp follower for Saladin during the crusades. He could also accompany a foreign trader in Ancient Egypt or Rome. He could even visit the curious French soldiers rediscovering Egypt during the Napoleonic wars!

A 1943 color picture from Tunisia from the Life magazine.
Notice the perfect cocktail of a few donkeys, a boy with a brimless hat and a soldier!

To conclude, the LoJ050 will certainly please the collectors in need of civilians and fancy donkeys for their northern Africa/Middle East display. Once again, the Life of Jesus is more than what the name suggests. This collection is too often discarded by collectors as they assume it will only be about Jesus and a Jesus figure is hardly compatible with most of the other collections. But believe me, the LoJ line is actually filled with gems for more creative collectors!