A HÖCHST PORCELAIN FIGURE OF RAGONDA FROM THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE

3 More

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK … Read more

THE HÖCHST ‘LARGER ITALIAN COMEDY SERIES’ Lots 175 and 176 are from the famous larger series of fifteen Commedia dell’Arte figures. For some time the series was thought to be connected to the slightly later series modelled at the Fürstenberg manufactory in circa 1754 by Simon Feilner. Feilner had worked at Höchst (see lot 177) before leaving in 1753 to become Modellmeister at Fürstenberg, and it was thought that he was the author of the earlier Höchst series.1 This was convincingly ruled out by Horst Reber in his essay published in the Pflueger Collection.2 The Pflueger figures are the only complete set of 15 Höchst figures, which is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.3 Reber notes that the Höchst figures are so rare that ‘were one to gather together all the surviving examples, one might with difficulty put together a further set’.4 He also notes that as the financial situation at Höchst was not robust, it is more likely that the series was produced as a specific commission rather than being produced for unknown future buyers, and this may also explain why so few figures were made.5 Reber convincingly conjectured that the series was probably commissioned by the Elector of Mainz, Johann Friedrich von Ostein, the owner of the Höchst manufactory. The Elector may perhaps have commissioned the series for himself, or he may have gifted the series to his sister, the Gräfin von Bassenheim, for whom he had just built a palace (completed in about 1750), or perhaps they each had a series. Their uncle, Friedrich Carl von Schönborn, had eight stone Commedia dell’Arte figures in his parterre garden at the Schönborn Palace, Vienna, which were on very similar plinths, and it is very possible that the Elector of Mainz commissioned the series to resemble his uncle’s now lost stone figures.6 Although the bases of the Höchst figures evoke the stone figures, the porcelain figures themselves are based upon the engravings of Johann Jacob Wolrab.7 Reber argues that the most probable author of the Höchst series is the itinerant sculptor Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke, who was in Vienna in 1750 (see lot 155), and who may even have seen the stone figures at Schönborn. It is generally accepted that the Höchst Commedia dell’Arte series dates from circa 1750-53 (this is because of the decorators marks on some of the figures), and although von Lücke does not appear in the Höchst factory records, the existence of a Höchst porcelain figure inscribed v. Luck confirms that von Lücke was there.8 Reber also notes the stylistic similarity of an ivory figure of Scaramouche in the Grüne Gewölbe, Dresden, to the Höchst porcelain comedy figures.9 1. See Robert Schmidt, Early European Porcelain as collected by Otto Blohm, Munich, 1953, pp. 124-134. 2. H. Reber in H. Morley-Fletcher, Early European Porcelain & Faience as collected by Kiyi and Edward Pflueger, London, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 100-127.3. At the time of publication in 1993, Reber published 14 figures. A further figure of Dottore Boloardo, unknown in 1993, was added after the publication. 4. H. Reber, ibid., 1993, Vol. I, p. 100.5. H. Reber, ibid., 1993, Vol. I, p. 104.6. The garden figures were drawn in 1737 by Salamon Kleiner. The drawing is now in the Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, and is published by Reber, ibid., 1993, Vol. I, p. 106. 7. For prints by Wolrab see H. Reber, ibid., 1993, Vol. I, pp. 107-108, p. 122, p. 124 and p. 126; also see Birte Abraham, Commedia dell’Arte, The Patricia & Rodes Hart Collection of European porcelain and faience, Amsterdam, 2010, p. 112 and see Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell’Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, Singapore, 2001, pp. 258-259.8. The signature (in red) is on a female peasant figure, which, together with its companion figure, is in the Historisches Museum in Frankfurt (see W. Braun, Der Kunstwanderer, 1924).9. The ivory figure (signed C.L. Lücke) is also on a plinth, similar to the Höchst porcelain figures, see Joachim Menzhausen, Das Grüne Gewölbe, Leipzig, 1968, p. 105.

A HÖCHST PORCELAIN FIGURE OF RAGONDA FROM THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE

CIRCA 1752, IMPRESSED IG AND INDISTINCT INCISED SCRIPT MARK

Details

A HÖCHST PORCELAIN FIGURE OF RAGONDA FROM THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE
CIRCA 1752, IMPRESSED IG AND INDISTINCT INCISED SCRIPT MARK
Almost certainly modelled by J.C.L. von Lücke, wearing brightly coloured clothes, standing on a blue-edged plinth base before a tree-stump
8 5⁄8 in. (22 cm.) high

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Isabelle Cartier-Stone Specialist

icartier-stone@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2898

Lot Essay

R.G. Vater Collection no. 549 (paper collection label applied to the base).

The Pflueger Collection figure of Ragonda was formerly in the Otto Blohm Collection before it was sold by Sotheby’s, London, on 1-2 May 1956, lot 192. It’s illustrated by Robert Schmidt, Early European Porcelain as collected by Otto Blohm, Munich, 1953, pl. 42, No. 170, and then by H. Reber in H. Morley-Fletcher, Early European Porcelain & Faience as collected by Kiyi and Edward Pflueger, London, 1993, Vol. I, p. 122.

More from Two Private Collections of European Ceramics, Gold Boxes and Silver

View All