Johann Peter Melchior was still only a young man of about nineteen when he is recorded as the head of sculpture or Modellmeister at the Höchst factory near Frankfurt-am-Main. Despite his youth he had already been commissioned by the most important and influential local potentate, the Archbishop Elector of Mainz, Emmerich Joseph, to make two stone sculptures. Presumably on the strength of these works he was given his important appointment at the factory.

The first recorded model by Melchior for the factory was a complex chinoiserie group depicting called 'The Chinese Emperor' seated under a canopy with three young attendants. This group, completed by 1766, was accompanied by a series of individual figures of Chinese children and musicians, among which is this figure playing the cymbals. The lively dancing pose of the musician has been cleverly captured and the figure has been decorated with the subtle enamel colours, making it one of Melchior's very successful early models.