LATE 19TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY FRENCH

A directly related example of this group, on a different ormolu base, is in the British museum, London (museum no. Franks.119), which when it first entered the collection was attributed to Meissen due to its slight similarity to a model created J.J. Kändler in 1741 of a 'Sultan on an elephant'. However, subsequent study suggests that the porcelain is more likely French, circa 1860. During this period workshops like that of Samson in Paris produced copies of both Asian originals and European porcelains which were often mounted in the 18th century manner to cater for the contemporary taste for the Anciene Régime style, and it is into this category that the present figure falls. Another closely related example is the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, museum no. 65.2028a-b.