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Lot Essay
This figure is part of a series of fifteen Commedia dell'Arte figures by Simon Feilner, all taken from the engravings of Johann Jacob Wolrab printed in Nuremberg in 1722. Lücke at Höchst used the same engravings as inspiration for his series of fourteen Commedia dell'Arte figures. Both series are illustrated by Hugo Morley-Fletcher, 'Early European Porcelain as Collected by Kiyi and Edward Pfleuger' Catalogue (London, 1993), Vol I; see pp. 132-33 for La Scaramouche, where he points out that until 1984, when Gunter Hansen published the correct graphic source from Wolrab's 1722 Comedy Series, this figure had previously been thought to represent Ragonda. Wolrab's engraving is titled La Scaramouche.
Another example is illustrated by Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked (2001), p. 285, no. 49, where she lists other known examples, and p. 75, col. pls. 105-6. Also see Siegfried Ducret, Fürstenberger Porzellan (Brunswick, 1965), Vol. III, p. 23, fig. 21, for a figure with very similar decoration which he attributes to Johann Zeschinger.
Right, Wolrab's engraving La Scaramouche, 1722
Another example is illustrated by Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked (2001), p. 285, no. 49, where she lists other known examples, and p. 75, col. pls. 105-6. Also see Siegfried Ducret, Fürstenberger Porzellan (Brunswick, 1965), Vol. III, p. 23, fig. 21, for a figure with very similar decoration which he attributes to Johann Zeschinger.
Right, Wolrab's engraving La Scaramouche, 1722