The Commedia dell’Arte, was a form of improvised street theatre, which spread from16th-century Italy throughout Europe, and remained popular for around two centuries. Commedia dell'Arte troupes engaged in very physical acting using music, dance and acrobatics in their performances. While the plot was largely improvised, stock characters were used and were recognisable to the audience by their costumes, accents and poses. The popularity of this theatre form inspired paintings and decorative objects depicting the commedia characters.

The Dottore was one of the central Commedia dell’Arte characters. He was a supposedly educated man who continuously asserted his own brilliance while simultaneously betraying his shortcomings.

Fürstenberg lies in the far south-west of modern-day Germany. A pottery had been established there in 1744 by the ruler, Duke Charles I of Braunschweig- Wolfenbüttel with the aim of stimulating industry in his domain. It was not until about ten years later however that it was possible to make porcelain there as the recipe was a closely guarded secret, developed over many years at Meissen. The secret slowly leaked out however, and in 1719 the Vienna factory of Du Paquier was set up. In 1750 a potter at Vienna called J.J. Ringler defected and travelled around Europe setting up factories wherever he could find patrons. The first factory to be established by him was at Höchst in 1750. The manager of this factory, Johann Benckgraff, in turn defected to Fürstenberg, together with his son- in-law Johann Zeschinger, a painter, and Simon Feilner who was to become an important modeller at the factory. Benckgraff was in fact an arcanist (someone who knew the secret formula for making porcelain) and so was able to organise the production of porcelain at Fürstenberg. Feilner started work on the Commedia models soon after his arrival and announced that the whole cast (thought to be fifteen figures in total) was finished in 1754. All of figures were based on the engravings of Johann Jacob Wolrab produced in Nuremberg around 1720 and this boldly-modelled character of the Dottore is typical of Feilner's expressive work.