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Lot Essay
The figure of Dancing Harlequine, or Columbine, was recorded in Reinicke's work book for October 1744: 'tanzende Arlequinin', (dancing Harlequine), although a work report for October 1747 quotes the tanzende Arlequinin aus der Italienischen Comödie' as the last model of the Weissenfels series,1 the series of twenty Italian Comedy figures made for Adolph II, Duke of Weissenfels, between 1743 and 1744 by Reinicke and Kändler. The engravings by François Joullain in the Histoire du Théâtre Italien were used as inspiration for the series.2 Harlequin is loosely based on Joullain's engraving 'Habit d'Arlequin Moderne', but his companion Harlequine was not modelled after one of Joullain's engravings.3
For comparable examples in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection in the Historisches Museum, Basel, see Reinhard Jansen (ed.), Commedia dell'Arte. Fest der Komödianten. Keramische Kostbarkeiten aus den Museen der Welt, Stuttgart, 2001, p. 55, nos. 37 (Harlequine) and 38 (Harlequin); and see Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, London, 1972, Vol. I, pp. 320-321, nos. 2 and 13. The examples in the The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, are illustrated by Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell'Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, Singapore, 2001, p. 310 no. 104 (Harlequine) and p. 309, nos. 102-103 (Harlequin).
1. Birte Abraham, ibid., 2010, p.60.
2. The Histoire du Théâtre Italien was written by the actor and company manager Luigi Riccoboni, and it was published in Paris in 1728.
3. Joullain does not illustrate any female comedy actors in his engravings for the Histoire du Théâtre Italien.
For comparable examples in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection in the Historisches Museum, Basel, see Reinhard Jansen (ed.), Commedia dell'Arte. Fest der Komödianten. Keramische Kostbarkeiten aus den Museen der Welt, Stuttgart, 2001, p. 55, nos. 37 (Harlequine) and 38 (Harlequin); and see Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, London, 1972, Vol. I, pp. 320-321, nos. 2 and 13. The examples in the The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, are illustrated by Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell'Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, Singapore, 2001, p. 310 no. 104 (Harlequine) and p. 309, nos. 102-103 (Harlequin).
1. Birte Abraham, ibid., 2010, p.60.
2. The Histoire du Théâtre Italien was written by the actor and company manager Luigi Riccoboni, and it was published in Paris in 1728.
3. Joullain does not illustrate any female comedy actors in his engravings for the Histoire du Théâtre Italien.