CIRCA 1765, BLUE FLEUR DE LYS MARK

Details

A Buen Retiro white group of Ciego con su lazarillo
Circa 1765, blue fleur de lys mark
Modelled with an old bearded blindman playing the hurdy-gurdy, wearing a pointed cap, a long cloak with a tasselled hood, a jacket and clogs, a dog sleeping at his feet, the scruffy and barefoot Lazarillo dancing at his side playing the castinettas, a triangle at his side suspended from a cord, on a rockwork base with foliage (chipping to hem of cloak at right, chip to boy's left index finger and left great toe)
10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm.) high

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

This group is inspired by the characters from Fernando de Rojas's Lazarillo de Tormes, a very popular story at the time which gives a fascinating insight into peasant life in 17th Century Spain. The name of the character Lazarillo, a boy who left home and looked after a blindman, whose earnings from begging supported them both, came to be a generic name used for boys looking after the blind in this way. See Carmen Manueco Santurtún et. al., 'Manufactura del Buen Retiro 1760-1808' Exhibition Catalogue (Madrid, 1999), p. 510, no. 184 for a similar group.

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