Boy dressed as a Sultan: C.10-1947

Titles

Boy dressed as a Sultan

Maker(s)

Factory: Höchst Porcelain Manufactory
Modeller: Melchior, Johann Peter

Entities

• Figure

Categories

• Hard-paste porcelain

Description

Hard-paste porcelain painted in enamels, and gilt

Hard-paste porcelain, press-moulded, and painted overglaze in green, grey-green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, a little red, brown, and black enamels, and gilt. The glazed underside is divided into two recessed areas by a transverse wall, and has a ventilation slit at the back. The low mound base has three sides, one straight, and the other two slightly curved and irregular in plan. The top is green with grey-green wavy lines overall to represent grass, and there are a few dabs of pale brown on the edge. The boy stands on his right leg with his left advanced. His right arm is akimbo, and his left at his side.The object held in his left hand is missing. His head is tilted slightly to his right, and he looks downwards. He has pink skin and dark brown eyes, and wears a turban with a pink crown, and gold striped white surround on which is a pink, green and yellow jewel. His breeches are pink, and he has a pink and gold striped long-sleeved coat, a long pink short-sleeved over-coat with a pale yellow lining, a yellow sash, and yellow shoes. Hanging round his neck on a pink ribbon is a gold crescent with a pink, red, and pale green jewel below it.

Notes

History note: Probably Dr J.W.L. Glaisher; Mrs W.D. (Frances Louisa) Dickson

Legal notes

Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson

Place(s) associated

• Höchst ⪼ Germany
• Höchst-am-Main ⪼ Germany

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1947) by Dickson, W. D. (Frances Louisa), Mrs

Dating

18th Century, third quarter
Circa 1770 CE - 1775 CE

Note

The figure's pose appears to derive from a print of a Persian in the 'Receuil de Cent Estampes Representant differentes Nations du Levant . ..' commissioned by the Comte de Ferriol (1652-1722), the French ambassador to the Ottoman court from 1699 to 1711, published in Paris in 1714, and reprinted c. 1750 and c. 1764. The Meissen factory produced a series of adult figures from these prints, such as the Sultan Asseki, and pairs of Hungarians and Persians, c. 1750 (see C.41-49-1954), and a series of children in Turkish costume, c. 1756 which were commissioned by the Parisien marchand-mercier, Gille Bazin. The Meissen figures inspired numerous models by other European factories.

This figure is often paired with a girl dressed as a Sultana (see C.3-1947), sometimes called the Sultan's Children. It was modelled by Johann Peter Melchior who worked at Höchst from 1767-1779 when he moved to Frankenthal.

School or Style

Rococo