A VERY RARE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE FIGURES OF A EUROPEAN LADY AND A GENTLEMAN, she wearing tight-fitting décolleté dress with skirt parting in the front to reveal a floral under-skirt embellished with a flower and pendent tassel, possibly holding a fan in her raised left hand, her hair modelled à la Fontanges beneath a small hat, the gentleman standing beside rockwork holding a baton in his lowered left hand and wearing a floral jacket over a blue-ground waist coat and breeches, frilly cuffs protruding from his sleeves and a cravat loosely tied around his neck, his hair swept back in a pony-tail beneath a tricorn hat (left hands chipped), 19th Century

Details

A VERY RARE PAIR OF FAMILLE ROSE FIGURES OF A EUROPEAN LADY AND A GENTLEMAN, she wearing tight-fitting décolleté dress with skirt parting in the front to reveal a floral under-skirt embellished with a flower and pendent tassel, possibly holding a fan in her raised left hand, her hair modelled à la Fontanges beneath a small hat, the gentleman standing beside rockwork holding a baton in his lowered left hand and wearing a floral jacket over a blue-ground waist coat and breeches, frilly cuffs protruding from his sleeves and a cravat loosely tied around his neck, his hair swept back in a pony-tail beneath a tricorn hat (left hands chipped), 19th Century
18cm. high (2)

Lot Essay

These models have been taken from 18th Century German originals. Cf. J. Bauer, op. cit., p114, no.763-767, p.121, no.787-793, p.129, no.843-849, for original prints by D. Chodowiecki showing women and men with very similar hats and dress dated to 1780-1781 and representing the height of Berlin fashion at the time, and p.158, no.1088, for a similar depiction of the male figure, called 'Le Fanfaron', dated 1784

More from Chinese

View All