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Lot Essay
The series of Commedia dell'Arte figures that Franz Anton Bustelli produced for the Nymphenburg factory are considered the zenith of his sculptural achievements. They are particularly unusual in that pairs of figures were designed to interact together; there are eight pairs total and Pantalone couples with Julia. Both appear in collection of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (Inv. Nr. Ker 2103 and 1906.189) in Munich and are illustrated by R. Jansen, Commedia dell'Arte, Fest der Komödianten, Stuttgart, 2001, p. 194, nos. 199 and 200.
No matter the factory, Pantalone is almost always depicted in a courtly bow, and the present figure is no exception. For a discussion of this gesture and for a similar example in the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto, see M. Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, New Haven, 2001, pp. 107-109, pl. 168.
No matter the factory, Pantalone is almost always depicted in a courtly bow, and the present figure is no exception. For a discussion of this gesture and for a similar example in the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto, see M. Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, New Haven, 2001, pp. 107-109, pl. 168.