Figure of a masquerader playing a pipe in soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels and gilded, modelled by J. Willems, Chelsea Porcelain factory, Chelsea, ca. 1760-1769.

Figure of a masquerader playing a flageolet in soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels and gilded. He is dancing hopping on his left leg. He wears a tricorn hat, a domino covering one side of his face, red waistcoat with a puce sash, puce breeches with gold bells at the knee and turquoise apron, a wreath is thrown over his shoulder. At his left side are hung a lantern and a flask half full of wine. Gilt scroll-edged mound base applied with flowers and leaves.

J.G.V. Mallet's entry from the Rococo exhibition catalogue (see below) states:
'Fourteen models from this series, recognizable by their scroll bases, their size and their subject-matter, have so far been identified, nine of which are in the present exhibition. Eleven models are in the collection at Colonial Williamsburg; the six at Luton Hoo (Wernher Collection) include two further models, while yet another model of a man holding a bird-cage is illustrated by Stoner, 1955, pl. 32. It has often been suggested (eg by Blunt, 1924) that these figures commemorate a masque held in honour of the Prince of Wales' birthday given in Ranelagh Gardens on 24th May, 1759. However none of the figures correspond at all exactly to those shown in the engraving by Bowles after Maurer representing this ball (illustrated in Apollo, August 1969). It is not even certain that the figures were intended to represent the well-to-do in fancy dress rather than Mountebanks or Mummers....'

Unlike many Continental factories, the Chelsea porcelain factory was not backed by aristocratic patronage. Nevertheless, it had great ambitions. It used a rich glassy soft-paste body to make copies of contemporary Meissen figures. The Flemish modeller Joseph Willems produced a successful range of original models. They included these 'masqueraders', who are based on the masked revellers to be seen at the London pleasure gardens of Vauxhall and Ranelagh.

C.32-1973