Live Auction 5962Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
A DUTCH DELFT POLYCHROME FIGURE OF MEZZETIN WITH A 'VIOLA DA GAMBA'
Lot 78

A DUTCH DELFT POLYCHROME FIGURE OF MEZZETIN WITH A 'VIOLA DA GAMBA'

CIRCA 1740-60

Closed28 November 2012

Price Realised

GBP 3,750

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A DUTCH DELFT POLYCHROME FIGURE OF MEZZETIN WITH A 'VIOLA DA GAMBA'
CIRCA 1740-60
Modelled stepping forwards as if performing a song, his instrument and bow held before him, in a manganese snood, a long green, ochre and manganese striped cloak, a chequered and flowered tunic and manganese breeches, on a square plinth base edged in ochre and manganese (some restoration to face, strings of instrument, bow and right hand, slight retouching to ochre on cloak and some slight glaze flaking)
9 7/8 in. (25 cm.) high

Anonymous sale; Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, 25-28 November 1969, lot 776 (according to Birte Abraham, Commedia dell'Arte, The Patricia & Rodes Hart Collection of European Porcelain and Faience, Amsterdam, 2010, p. 186.)
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 19 September 2000, lot 736.
With Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam, from whom it was acquired on 9 September, 2009.

Specialist note

Mezzetin was a servant and a companion of Scapin and Brighella. He was essentially a musician and dancer; here he plays a 'Viola da Gamba' but he is usually shown with a lute or guitar. For a full discussion of Mezzetin and his role in the Italian Comedy see Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell'Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, Singapore, 2001, pp. 96-100.