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Figurine

Figurine

  • Place of origin:

    Germany (made)

  • Date:

    1914 (modelled)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Scheurich, Paul, born 1883 (sculptor)
    Meissen porcelain factory (made)

  • Credit Line:

    Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the London Archives of the Dance

  • Museum number:

    S.709-2009

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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This is one of five figures modelled by Paul Scheurich on characters in the ballet Le Carnival originally created for a charity performance by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in St Petersburg in February 1910, choreographed by Mikhail Fokine, with music by Robert Schumann. It was staged in Berlin as a one-act ballet at the Theatre des Westerns on 21 May 1910 with new sets and costumes by Bakst, and repeated on the Company's visits to the city in 1912 and 1914. Carnival became the best-loved Ballets Russes ballet in Berlin, resulting in its choice for recreation by Meissen.

Paul Scheurich was born in New York and emigrated to Berlin in 1900 where he studied at the Academy of Fine Art from 1900-1902. He developed a career as a graphic designer, book illustrator and poster designer and was also a skilled sculptor. He worked for several German porcelain factories but appears to have begun working with Meissen in 1913, for whom he sculpted 87 figures over 20 years. These figures were modelled in 1914 but may not have gone into production until 1915.

Physical description

Porcelain figurine of the sentimental Chiarina, a character in 'Le Carnival', as performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Berlin. She is standing on a white base, wearing a close-fitting white cap with blue rosettes each side, a dress with a top patterned with red, yellow, blue and purple flowers, and a flounced skirt edged in blue. She is standing on her left leg and is holding her hands out to the left, holding two purple roses in her left hand and one yellow rose in her right.

Place of Origin

Germany (made)

Date

1914 (modelled)

Artist/maker

Scheurich, Paul, born 1883 (sculptor)
Meissen porcelain factory (made)

Dimensions

Height: 26.0 cm, Width: 15.0 cm maximum width, heel of left foot to edge of base, Width: 15.0 cm of base

Descriptive line

Figurine of the character Chiarina in the ballet Le Carnivalchoreographed by Mikhail Fokine with music by Robert Schumann and designs by Léon Bakst, created in 1910 for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Figure modelled by Paul Scheurich (1883-1945) for Meissen, 1914. Porcelain.

Production Note

The figures based on characters in Le Carnival were modelled in 1914 but may not have gone into production until 1915. They have 'D' numbers on their bases, showing they were made before 1923/1924 when a new marking system was introduced.

Materials

Porcelain

Subjects depicted

Harlequin; Chairina

Collection code

T&P

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Qr_O184726
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