Meissen – figurine of Scapino, Commedia dell’Arte series, ca 1744

Meissen commedia dell’arte model of Scapino by Peter Reinicke, c. 1744.
In dancing pose, a yellow hat in his left hand and a belt with gilt dagger and purse. With rose-colored cape and jacket with gold buttons over green trousers. Underglaze blue sword mark on the back of the base.
H 13.5 cm.
Some retouches to the green trousers.
Meissen mark to the lower backside.

A series of eighteen Commedia dell’Arte figures was commissioned by Johann Adolf II, Duke of Sachsen-Weissenfels (1685-1746), first cousin of Augustus the Strong. It is the largest and most influential group of all Meissen commedia figures and has traditionally been associated with the Duke’s marriage to Frederike von Sachsen-Gotha in 1743. His familiarity with the subject is evident in his participation in the Comique Caroussel of 1722 and his enthusiasm for Commedia is further demonstrated by his choosing to play the role of Scaramouche in the Bauernwirtschaft, held to celebrate the visit of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia to Dresden in 1729.
The series is therefore a particularly apt choice of decoration for his table. Ten of the characters were directly inspired by Joullain’s engravings in Riccoboni’s Histoire du théâtre italien, published in Paris in 1728, with a further two (Pantalone and Dottore Boloardo) being more loosely based on the engravings. Fourteen of the figures are documented as being modelled by Reinicke between March and September 1744 with Dancing Harlequine recorded later in October 1747. Kändler appears to have had a supervisory role with records showing that at least nine of the figures were ‘corrected’ by him between March and August 1744; there are no records of the other figures. This playful and light-hearted group of figures became so popular that it was widely copied in European stoneware and in English porcelain, most notably at the Chelsea, Bow and Derby factories. It represents one of the most important collaborations between Kändler and Reinicke and encapsulates the new found taste for the rococo that had begun to develop in the early 1740s.

Similar piece in catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection, Washington 1979, p. 452 no. 298; Sammlung Pauls, Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, vol. II, Frankfurt 1967, p.322,323/337.