This figure of a dancer represents a character from the Commedia dell'arte and is made in Germany in about 1900. He wears fantastic costume, a conical hat and a ballet skirt with applied Pambrequine.
Such genre pieces, often portrayed wearing masks, were made in Dresden in the first half of the eighteenth century. Some have been attributed to Paul Heermann. Johann Christoph Ludwig Lücke also produced similar pieces. There are links between such works and contemporary ceramics, for example the porcelain figures made at Meissen, some of which were designed by ivory sculptors. However this example seems to be a fabrication of the early twentieth century. This is suggested both by its scale, since it is significantly larger than authentic eighteenth-century figures, and by its rather coarse style. The feet for example are too small in relation to the rest of the figure, while the head is too large, and the facial features have a modern appearance.