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A rare pair of Chelsea…
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
19-Feb-2024
Lot No.
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Description:
A rare pair of Chelsea porcelain figures of Ranelagh masqueraders Toper and a Masked lady. English circa 1760, Gold anchor mark. Provenance: Private Collection Melbourne. Robert Burke collection no 43. Exhibited: Flowers and Fables. A Survey of Chelsea porcelain 1745-1769. National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne.1 November 1984-10 February 1985. Number 138. Illustrated full page in the NGV publication, written by Margaret Legge that was published for the exhibition Page 66. This figure belongs to a group traditionally said to portray characters from the masquerade held at the Ranelagh Gardens to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Prince of Wales on 24 May 1759, although none correspond exactly with prints issued at the time by Bowles after Maurer. Horace Walpole wrote of a previous Masquerade at Ranelagh in a letter to Horace Mann sent from Strawberry Hill on 3 May 1749: 'In one quarter, was a May-pole dressed with garlands and people dancing round it to a tabor and pipe and rustic music, all masqued, as were all the various bands of music that were disposed in different parts of the garden; some like huntsmen with French horns, some like peasants, and a troop of harlequins and scaramouches in the little open temple on the mount. All round the outside of the amphitheatre were shops, filled with Dresden china, Japan, &c. and all the shopkeepers in mask' See a figure of a masquerader playing a violin sold by Bonhams 6 June 2007, lot 216, Also a pair with foliate costumes sold by Bonhams London 3 October 2012, lot 62 and a pair with the same male figure sold by Bonhams London 18 May 2016, lot 319, 20 and 20.5 cm high, based 5.6 cm diameter
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Ceramics: Zother - 18th Century British