John Sandon
Consultant
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Lot 319
A rare pair of Chelsea Ranelagh Masqueraders, circa 1759-63
18 May 2016, 10:30 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £11,250 inc. premium
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Fergus Gambon
Director
Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
A rare pair of Chelsea Ranelagh Masqueraders, circa 1759-63
Modelled in lively dancing attitude, the lady with her arms held out to grasp the folds of her apron and dress, her male companion playing a flute which he holds in both hands, his right knee raised, a lantern and a bottle of wine suspended from a berried garland over his shoulder, both wearing masks, their costumes painted in bright colours, their scrolled bases picked out in gold and applied with flowers, 21cm and 21.5cm high, gold anchor marks (her neck restuck, a few minor losses) (2)
Footnotes
This pair belongs to a group of figures traditionally said to portray characters from the masque held at Ranelagh Garden to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Prince of Wales on 24 May 1759, although none correspond exactly with prints issued at the time by Bowles after Maurer. Horace Walpole wrote of of a previous Masquerade at Ranelagh in a letter to Horace Mann sent from Strawberry Hill on 3 May 1749:
'In one quarter, was a May-pole dressed with garlands and people dancing round it to a tabor and pipe and rustic music, all masqued, as were all the various bands of music that were disposed in different parts of the garden; some like huntsmen with French horns, some like peasants, and a troop of harlequins and scaramouches in the little open temple on the mount... All round the outside of the amphitheatre were shops, filled with Dresden china, Japan, &c., and all the shopkeepers in mask'
Another similar pair is in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection, illustrated by John C Austin (1977), p.145, pl.135 and p.147, pl.137. See also p.40 where they are shown as part of a group of eleven masqueraders. Another version of the male figure was exhibited in the Chelsea China from Private Collections exhibition in 1999, catalogue p.39 and front cover. See also the figure of a masquerader playing a violin sold by Bonhams 6 June 2007, lot 216 and the pair with foliate costumes also sold by Bonhams 3 October 2012, lot 62.