A GROUP OF EIGHT FIGURES

NAPLES, MID-18TH CENTURY AND LATER

Details

A GROUP OF EIGHT FIGURES
Naples, Mid-18th Century and Later
Comprising a barefoot young boy in a yellow silk jacket, a Roman centurion with helmet, breast plate and shield on an ebonized wooden plinth, the 'Unhappy Man' in red and blue velvet costume, a young Oriental in long embroidered cream silk robe, a market girl in cream, green and brown costume with a basket, a young villager with a loaf of bread, a courtesan in embroidered blue, cream and red silk costume, and a Moor in green and cream silk costume, with the exception of the centurion all on later wooden stands, together with a model of a puppy, a three-legged wooden stool and a woven basket filled with oysters
7½in. (19cm.) to 11¾in. (30cm.) high

Lot Essay

The figure of the 'Unhappy Man' is one of the caricature types often found in presepe that illustrate the range of the human experience. The current figure can be compared to figures by Lorenzo Mosca (D. 1789) for the modelling of facial details that are shared with a figure of an elderly nobleman illustrated in F. Mancini, Il Presepe Napoletano, 1983, fig. 42. Another figure of this type from the workshop of Francesco Celebrano sold Semenzato, Rome, 1 December 1999, lot 450. Additionally, the sensitive and highly refined care paid to the Moor's face would suggest he too originated in the workshop of one of the finest figure modellers such as either Lorenzo Mosca or Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720-1793). Although no certain attribution can be made at this time for the figure of a boy holding the bread, there are shared traits with two figures sold Semenzato, Rome, 1 December 1999, one attributed to Michele Trillocco, lot 334, and another attributed to Giuseppe Gori, lot 335.

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