CIRCA 1740

The underside inscribed in sepia ink 'A n (?)/N=11' which appears to be an old inventory number, which may date from the 18th or 19th centuries.

Kändler's Taxa records the model as 'A Harlequin with his hat making a very deep bow. 2 Thalers.'. Ingelore Menzhausen has suggested that the inspiration for this grussender Harlequin model is the engraving of the Expulsion of the Italian Comedians in 1697 after a lost painting by Watteau. Meredith Chilton, in Harlequin Unmasked, Singapore, 2001, pp. 124-126, discusses this specific bowing pose, which appears to reflect a movement performed by the Commedia dell'Arte actors. She also illustrates the example in the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, fig. 199, and quotes Pierre Rameau's description of the pose in his 1714 publication Maître à danser:
'In regard to the passing bow, this is done in the same manner as the bow forwards, save the body must be turned diagonally towards the persons you salute. That is, you turn half-sideways towards them, sliding forwards the foot that is nearest them, whether it be the right or the left, bending at the waist and inclining the head at the same time...'

Another example of this model was sold by Christie's, London, on the 11 December 2007, lot 130, and another example mounted as part of a mantel clock was sold by Christie's, London, on the 13 November 2019, lot 109.