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Lot Essay
Two versions of this group were produced, either with or without the pug to the base. The dog is included on the present example and is perhaps intended as a symbol of fidelity and unconditional love. A similar group is mentioned in Kändler's Taxa of 1740 as '1 Groupgen von 2. Figuren, bestehend, so einander umarmen, das Frauenzimmer aber hält in der lincken Hand einen Vogelgebauer' (1 group of 2 figures, standing, embracing each other, the woman a birdcage in the left hand).1
Another example is in the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, see Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell'Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, Singapore, 2001, pp. 299-300, no. 82, where it is described as Scaramouche and Columbine and where the author suggests that the model was perhaps inspired by Larmoissan's engraving Les amours du bocage after Watteau's painting.
1. See Ingelore Menzhausen, In Porzellan verzaubert, Die Figuren Johann Joachim Kändlers in Meissen aus der Sammlung Pauls-Eisenbeiss Basel, Basel, 1993, p. 138.
Another example is in the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, see Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell'Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, Singapore, 2001, pp. 299-300, no. 82, where it is described as Scaramouche and Columbine and where the author suggests that the model was perhaps inspired by Larmoissan's engraving Les amours du bocage after Watteau's painting.
1. See Ingelore Menzhausen, In Porzellan verzaubert, Die Figuren Johann Joachim Kändlers in Meissen aus der Sammlung Pauls-Eisenbeiss Basel, Basel, 1993, p. 138.