Details
Modelled by J.J. Kändler and P. Reinicke, standing before a tree-stump
512 in. (14 cm.) high
Literature
Melitta Kunze-Köllensperger, Collection Franz E. Burda, Meissen, Augsburg, 1997, p.168, fig. 97.
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In his work notes for August 1744 Reinicke describes: '1 Figur, Capitain Italien, in Thon bossirt' (1 figure, Italian Captain, modelled in clay), see Rainer Rückert, Meissener Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, p. 179, no. 962 for a similar example. The present model is after the engraving 'Habit de Capitain Italien' by François Joullain from Luigi Riccoboni's Histoire de Théâtre Italien, Paris, 1728.

Il Capitano, a braggart soldier, was usually depicted as being of Spanish or Southern Italian origin. In the 18th century his role in the plays and scenarios came to be replaced by that of Scaramouche. For a similar example in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection (inv. no. 1975.1086.5) in the Historisches Museum, Basel, see Dr. Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, London, 1972, Vol. I, p. 328.

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