Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 140
An exceptional Chelsea white figure of a musician, circa 1752-53
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£6,000 - £8,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
An exceptional Chelsea white figure of a musician, circa 1752-53
Modelled by Joseph Willems, the young man standing contrapposto before a tree stump, his head turned to one side, playing the hurdy-gurdy, cranking the wheel with his right hand, dressed in a hat, coat, waistcoat and breeches, the stump and irregular square base applied with leaves and flowers, 21.2cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
Sotheby's, 12 July 1977, lot 110
Christie's, 29 November 2011, lot 11
Literature
White, Mary, People at the Whites' House, Vol.5, 2024, p.197
This remarkable figure is one of the few Chelsea figures that were drawn directly from Meissen at this early date. The original is the first large series of figures from the Cris de Paris, probably modelled by Peter Reinicke between 1744 and 1747 and based on drawings by Edme Bouchardon engraved by the Comte Caylus, see Günter Reinheckel, 'Die erste Folge der Pariser Ausrufer in Meissner Porzellan', Keramos, 50, 1970, pp.115-121. Another white version of this figure in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no.C.149-1931) is illustrated by Hilary Young, English Porcelain 1745-95, 1999, p.79, pl.29 and also by Errol Manners, 'A Documentary 'Girl-in-a-Swing' Seal and other considerations on the porcelain of Charles Gouyn's factory', ECC Trans, Vol.18, Pt.3, 2004, p.401, fig.6. A coloured version from the Fisher Collection is illustrated by F Severne Mackenna, Chelsea Porcelain: The Red Anchor Wares, 1951, pl.73, fig.145. For the Meissen original, see the example sold by Bonhams on 22 July 2020, lot 86.