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Lot Essay
This figure is derived from the engraving 'Fêtes Venetiennes' by Laurent Cars after Watteau. The original painting, titled 'un bal' or 'un bal vénitien', now in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. no. NG 439), is a scene of a fêtes champêtre rather than a performance by a comic troupe. It is thought to include several portraits including a self-portrait of the artist as a musician and a central female dancer, thought to be the actress and socialite, Charlotte Desmares. Her dancing partner, whom the present figure represents, is identified as the Flemish painter, Nicolas Vleughels, who was Watteau's friend and landlord.
For a similar figure with his dancing partner, see Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, Fribourg, 1972, Vol. II, pp. 128-129, and also see the figure illustrated by F.H. Hofmann, Frankenthaler Porzellan, Munich, 1911, pl. 15, no. 51 (where it is listed as in the collection of Grossherzog Ernst Ludwig von Hessen). A similar figure was sold in these Rooms on 13 March 1967, lot 90.
For a similar figure with his dancing partner, see Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, Fribourg, 1972, Vol. II, pp. 128-129, and also see the figure illustrated by F.H. Hofmann, Frankenthaler Porzellan, Munich, 1911, pl. 15, no. 51 (where it is listed as in the collection of Grossherzog Ernst Ludwig von Hessen). A similar figure was sold in these Rooms on 13 March 1967, lot 90.