A Meissen group of the Harlequin family c.1930

A Meissen group of the Harlequin family c.1930, after the model by J J Kändler, the comical character typically attired in chequered costume, embracing his partner who holds an infant in similar costume, blue crossed swords and dot mark, incised 115X, a few small restorations, 18cm.

While this model does not appear in Kändler's work book, it does feature in the overtime records of the repairer Anton Friedrich Kohler from 1738, described as "Two figures of Harlequin with one woman who is carrying a child in her arms". Another version of the group was made without the child, and both examples are illustrated in Rainer Rückert, Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, nos. 861 and 862. Both versions were copied in the 18th century at both Continental and English factories. In the 1930s, some 200 years after Kändler's original model, Meissen chose to resurrect the group to great effect.