A GROUP OF NINE FIGURES

NAPLES, MID-18TH/19TH CENTURY

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A GROUP OF NINE FIGURES
Naples, Mid-18th/19th Century
Comprising a courtesan in a red silk robe with a string of beaded pearls, a shepherd with a leather cap and satchel, a seated shepherd holding a lamb in his lap, another shepherd in a red silk cap, the 'Bird Seller' in a red velvet corset with a wooden cage, a fisherman with a white cap and black and white striped velvet pants, a villager with a leather hat in green silk jacket and pants, another in faded lavender silk undergarments and a white cap, and a third blowing a wooden horn with a leather satchel, on later wooden bases
6½in. (16.5cm.) high the seated shepherd, 12in. (30.5cm.) high the tallest standing figure

Lot Essay

The seated figure of a shepherd relates to the group of figures of young men by Lorenzo Mosca, see for example F. Mancini, Ibid, fig. 37. Despite the refreshed polychrome to the face of the courtesan, this figure can be compared to the circle of Angelo Viva. It is interesting to note that the villager dressed in lavender silk with a fur jacket may indeed have originally been a figure from the commedia dell'arte. See, for example, the figure of Guercio by Salvatore di Franco (active late 18th/19th century), now in the Museo di San Martino, Naples, illustrated in F. Mancini, Ibid, color plate XIX.

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