CIRCA 1750-70

Details

A RARE ENAMELLED EROTIC 'PEDICURE' GROUP
Circa 1750-70
The gentleman wearing a long blue robe incised with clouds over iron-red trousers, seated on pale green rockwork, one of his yellow and pale blue striped leggings on his knee and a shoe on the ground, his bare leg resting on the knee of his female companion who is sitting on a blue stool attending to his foot, wearing a pale turquoise floral robe over a pleated iron-red skirt which is raised at the front to reveal her bare leg and bound foot, minor restoration
8¼ in. (20.5 cm.) wide

Provenance

With Vanderven and Vanderven, 1995, acquired by
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. J-171).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A similar group is in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, illustrated by W.R. Sargent, The Copeland Collection - Chinese and Japanese Ceramic Figures, Salem, 1991, no.59 and illustrated on the front cover. The author mentions related groups depicting men and women at everyday activities, such as ear-cleaning (see lot 502), teeth-cleaning (see lot 501), music lesson (see lot 503), wine drinking and smoking, all of which he suggests are preliminary to sexual advances, and all have a veiled eroticism, such as the maiden showing a bare leg, as in this group. Two groups similar to the present lot are in the Rijksmuseum, one of which is illustrated by C.J.A. Jörg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1997, no.256, p.226. A similarly modelled group but with different coloured enamels was sold Christie's, London, 16 November 1998, Lot 363.

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