Figure of Columbine thumbnail 1
Figure of Columbine thumbnail 2
+3
images
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Figure of Columbine

ca. 1765 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Italian comic theatre, or Commedia dell'Arte, became all the rage in Europe in the 18th century thanks to the performances of Italian travelling troupes of actors. The cast of stock characters would have been familiar to everyone, the most notorious being the mischievous and outrageously hilarious servant Harlequin. Columbine was the flirtatious lady's maid of Isabella, and was often paired with Harlequin, or portrayed playing the hurdy-gurdy or the mandolin. However, when dancing as in this model, she was usually grouped with a different partner, Scaramouche, a Neapolitan valet. Her mask symbolises the 'hide and seek' element of courtship and love as played out on the stage and indeed on occasion, in real life.

Columbine is one of sixteen 'pantomime figures' modelled by the great modeller at the Nymphenburg factory, Franz Anton Bustelli. The different models were mentioned on a factory document dated 1760, however their playful elegance and artistry have given them a lasting popularity. They were still being produced in the 19th century and are being made again at the factory today.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain, moulded, painted and gilded
Brief description
Figure of an Italian comedy character, Columbine, modelled in hard-paste porcelain by Franz Anton Bustelli, made at the Nymphenburg porcelain factory, Nymphenburg, Bavaria, ca. 1765.
Physical description
Hard-paste porcelain figure of a young woman dancing, stepping forward with her right foot, her head turned slightly to the right, her mouth open, wearing a jacket and matching full skirt striped in lemon yellow and mauve, trimmed with pink bows and finely pleated falling white lace cuffs, a black ruff around her neck, her left arm raised holding a carnival mask, also wearing a small green hat and pointed yellow shoes with pink trimmings, set on a low scroll-edged platform, her costume and the base edged with gilding.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • shield of Bavaria mark (impressed on the vertical upper surface of the scroll-edged base, under the raised right hem of her skirt)
  • '2' (impressed under the base denoting, according to Alfred Ziffer, the best paste used at the factory for figure modelling)
Subjects depicted
Summary
The Italian comic theatre, or Commedia dell'Arte, became all the rage in Europe in the 18th century thanks to the performances of Italian travelling troupes of actors. The cast of stock characters would have been familiar to everyone, the most notorious being the mischievous and outrageously hilarious servant Harlequin. Columbine was the flirtatious lady's maid of Isabella, and was often paired with Harlequin, or portrayed playing the hurdy-gurdy or the mandolin. However, when dancing as in this model, she was usually grouped with a different partner, Scaramouche, a Neapolitan valet. Her mask symbolises the 'hide and seek' element of courtship and love as played out on the stage and indeed on occasion, in real life.

Columbine is one of sixteen 'pantomime figures' modelled by the great modeller at the Nymphenburg factory, Franz Anton Bustelli. The different models were mentioned on a factory document dated 1760, however their playful elegance and artistry have given them a lasting popularity. They were still being produced in the 19th century and are being made again at the factory today.
Bibliographic references
  • Eikelmann, Renate (ed). Bustelli, Nymphenburger Porzellanfiguren des Rokoko Includes essays by Katharina Hantschmann, Alfred Ziffer, Utta Bach, Peter Volk etc. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2004. Catalogue of exhibition held at the Bayerishces Nationalmuseum, Munich, November 2004- March 2005. pp 298-302 and pp. 481-482, nos. 158 and 159 (a white version).
  • Chilton, Meredith. Harlequin Unmasked, The Commedia dell'Arte and Porcelain Sculpture with an essay by Domenico Pietropaolo. New Haven and London: George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art and Yale University Press, 2001. 65 p. ISBN 0300090099
  • Jansen, Reinhard, ed. Commedia Dell'Arte, Fest der Komödianten, Keramische Kostbarkeiten aus den Museen der Welt with essays by Ulrich Pietsch, Meredith Chilton, Reinhard Jansen, Samuel Wittwer etc. Catalogue of the exhibition held at Schloss Charlottenburg and the Bröhan Museum, 2001, together with separate summary in English and an Appendix booklet of source prints. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2001, 196 p., no. 204. See also Appendix for the print by Johann Jacob Wolrab (published Nuremburg, ca. 1720), showing Columbine in a striped costume holding a mask in her left hand.
  • Ziffer, Alfred. Nymphenburger Porezellan Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 1997. No.107, 68-69 pp., a white version of this figure. Catalogue of the Bäuml Collection exhibited at the Nymphenburg Palace, Munich
Collection
Accession number
C.82-1954

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Record createdMay 12, 2009
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