A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN 'EUROPEAN SUBJECT' COURT FIGURES

This rare couple is also found in several museum collections, including the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (accession no. C.109A-1963). The elaborate fashions the couple wears are thought to be after late 17th century engravings of French fashions by the Bonnart brothers. The male figure is sometimes referred to as Louis XIV, logically making his companion either Madame de Maintenon or Madame de Montespan. For a discussion of the type, see W.R. Sargent, The Copeland Collection: Chinese and Japanese Ceramic Figures, Salem, 1991, pp. 104-105, no. 48. An example from the Tibor Collection was sold by Christie's, New York, 5 April 2022, lot 282.