Live Auction 14963THE COLLECTOR: English and European Furniture, Works of Art & Ceramics & Silver
A NYMPHENBURG PORCELAIN COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE FIGURE OF PANTALONE
Lot 789 The West Collection

A NYMPHENBURG PORCELAIN COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE FIGURE OF PANTALONE

CIRCA 1760, IMPRESSED BAVARIAN SHIELD MARK AND 2, MODELED BY F.A. BUSTELLI

Closed18 October 2017

Price Realised

USD 93,750

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A NYMPHENBURG PORCELAIN COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE FIGURE OF PANTALONE
CIRCA 1760, IMPRESSED BAVARIAN SHIELD MARK AND 2, MODELED BY F.A. BUSTELLI
With pointed beard, wearing a black cape and hat, his iron-red suit edged in gilt, the lining to the cape grey edged with black dentil embroidery; together with a modern Nymphenburg white-glazed figure of the same model
6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) high, each

With Robert Williams, England, 24 October 1983 (the 18th century model).

Specialist note

The series of Commedia dell'Arte figures that Franz Anton Bustelli produced for the Nymphenburg factory are considered the zenith of his sculptural achievements. They are particularly unusual in that pairs of figures were designed to interact together; there are eight pairs total and Pantalone couples with Julia. Both appear in collection of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (Inv. Nr. Ker 2103 and 1906.189) in Munich and are illustrated by R. Jansen, Commedia dell'Arte, Fest der Komödianten, Stuttgart, 2001, p. 194, nos. 199 and 200.

No matter the factory, Pantalone is almost always depicted in a courtly bow, and the present figure is no exception. For a discussion of this gesture and for a similar example in the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto, see M. Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked, New Haven, 2001, pp. 107-109, pl. 168.