A RARE FAMILLE ROSE FIGURE OF A SEATED TOPER

18TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE FAMILLE ROSE FIGURE OF A SEATED TOPER
18th century
Modelled as a pot-bellied laughing Dutchman dressed in blue and iron-red garments with kinrande decoration and seated comfortably astride a large pedestal barrel decorated with flower sprays, a bronze tap fitted between his legs, a loop handle at his back and an opening at the top of his head, hat and one foot restored, tap screw missing
13in. (33cm.) high

Lot Essay

This is after a Rouen, Brussels or Delft faience original and was probably used for dispensing spirits. Several versions are known, with variations in the clothing. See D. Howard & J. Ayers, op.cit., vol.II, p.620, no.650 for a Chinese example and a white Dutch Delft original; M. Jourdain and R. Soame Jenyns, op.cit., fig.73 for the toper from the Ionides Collection; and the toper from the Yves Mallié Collection, Paris, illustrated by M. Beurdeley, op.cit., p.189, cat.no.172. See also the similar toper sold in these Rooms, 3 May 1976, lot 154 and illustrated by A. du Boulay, op.cit., p.293, fig.11.

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