Footnotes

Literature:
Siemen, Wilhelm (ed.), Von den Ursprüngen des europäischen Porzellans bis zum Art Déco, 2010, p. 103, cat. 63

Provenance:
The Property of a Lady, resident in France, sold at Sotheby's London, 12 June 1984, lot 142;
Purchased in the above sale

Exhibited:
Paris, Musée National de Céramique à Sèvres, Chefs d'oeuvres céramiques de collections privées allemandes, 30 June-20 July 1996, no. B1;
Selb and Hohenberg a.d. Eger, Porzellanikon - Staatliches Museum für Porzellan, Königstraum und Massenware. 300 Jahr europäisches Porzellan, 24 April to 2 November 2010.
Hohenberg an der Eger, Porzellanikon - Staatliches Museum für Porzellan, 2018-2023


It has been suggested that this group may depict Antonio Bertoldi, the leader of the ten-strong Italian Comedy troupe that Augustus III brought from Venice to Dresden in 1738, and the Dresden court jester, Johann Christoph Kirsch, the latter holding the slapstick. The gesture being made with his right hand by the seated Harlequin (perhaps Bertoldi) somewhat resembles the gesture "ironiam infligo" (though here erroneously with the forefinger rather than the middle finger), which at the time would have been well-understood as a gesture of derision and scorn (Ulrich Pietsch and Claudia Banz, Triumph der blauen Schwerter, 2010, p. 319, cat. 354).

Only six other examples of this group are recorded, of which four are in museum collections:

1) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Untermyer Collection) inv. 64.101.95 (illustrated in Y. Hackenbroch, Meissen and other Continental Porcelain, 1956, pls. 38 and 39, fig. 72)
2) Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin (Feist Collection) inv. HF 196 (illustrated in G. von Pechmann, "Die Italienische Komödie in Porzellan", Der Kunstbrief, 39 (1947); Rainer Rückert, Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, 1966, no. 889; Stefan Bursche, Meissen. Steinzeug und Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, 1980, no. 315; Reinhard Jansen (ed.), Commedia dell'Arte: Fest der Komodianten, 2001, no. 17; Stefan Bursch, "Kaendlers Naturauffassung," Keramos 198 (2008): 26 (ill. 10); Ulrich Pietsch and Claudia Banz (eds.), Triumph der blauen Schwerter, 2010, no. 354)
3) Historisches Museum, Bern (Kocher Collection), inv. H/27 894 (illustrated in Robert L. Wyss, "Meissen Porcelain in the Historical Museum of Berne," The Connoisseur (September 1965): 7-12.
4) Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama (Eugenia Woodward Hitt Collection), inv. BMA 1991.310 (published in Anne Forschler-Tarrasch, "Eine bisher unbekannte Sammlung von Kaendler-Figuren," Keramos 198 (2008): 58 (ill. 19)
5) The Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection (previously sold at Sotheby's London, 26th November 1968, lot 167; published in Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, vol. I, 1972, pp. 274-275)
6) Sotheby's London, 18th November 1952, lot 112, and again from the collection of the late Alfred E. Pearson, on 23rd May 1967, lot 118