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A so called pew group - a somewhat misleading name since the benches usually depicted on these objects are rather the type to be found in a secular setting with the very tall backs which would ill suit a church.
These figure-groups, usually depicting two or three people, are of a type called Staffordshire figures. The name is a geographic term, they were mainly made in Staffordshire, but by independent potters, who did not always mark their work either (so we do not know exactly who made this one, or others of the same kind). They are made of salt-glazed stoneware, with clay details. And they ARE weird. They seems to all have been made in the 1740s and meant as decorations in well to do homes (others would most likely not have been able to afford them anyway). One theory is that they are meant as portraits of the acquirer, but if that is the case, they are really not flattering.
These figurines are today extremely rare - but the Fitzwilliam Museum (where I saw this) has six (and a possible modern fake)
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