AN EXTREMELY RARE FAMILLE ROSE GROUP OF THE 'TYROLEAN DANCERS' Qianlong period, circa 1752 Decorated in bright, colorful opaque enamels after a Meissen original depicting a couple dancing, often referred to as 'Tyrolean' dancers, the man wears a yellow hat, blue waistcoat and iron-red breeches; the woman wears an iron-red bodice with delicate scrolling tendrils in white, and a white apron over a skirt with purple star bursts or stylized flowerheads; the irregular oval base is molded with flowers and foliage scattered between their feet. 6in (15cm) high Footnotes: 乾隆時期 約1752年 粉彩《泰洛爾雙人舞者》擺飾 Published: Cohen & Cohen, Angels & Demonslayers, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 48-49, no. 29 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《Angels & Demonslayers》，香港，2012年，頁48-49，圖版編號29 The original model of the group was made by Johann Friedrich Eberlein in 1735 for Meissen and reworked by Johann Joachim Kändler when it was listed in his Taxa of 1743 as, 'Harlequin and a maiden doing a Polish dance, possibly the Mazurka.' However, due to its German production, it became popularly known as the Tyrolean Dancers. (fig. 1) It was a much-admired group and was copied by the Bow, Chelsea, and possibly Derby potteries in England. This is the finest of export figures modeled after European figural groups and very few examples have survived, each having slightly different coloring and detailing. When the 1752 wreck of the VOC ship Geldermalsen was salvaged in 1985 a number of damaged examples were recovered, though they had lost their enamels due to the corrosion of seawater. (fig 2) A very similar example from the collection of Sir Mark Wrightson, Bt., sold at Christie's New York, 17 January 2018, lot 87. References: Howard, 1994, no. 300, 253, illustrations of a headless pair from the Geldermalsen wreck and the original Meissen group; Jörg, 1986, figure. 102, 104, an example from the wreck; Scheurleer, 1974, cat. 221, an example in the Groninger Museum, where they now also have an example from the Geldermalsen with heads intact; Wirgin, 1998, cat. 221, 203, with similar coloring; Du Boulay, 1963, fig. 128; Sargent, 1991, 222-3, an example of a related form of a Dutch couple dancing, and for another example see Cohen & Cohen, Double Dutch, 2006, no, 125, 28-29; Cohen & Motley, 2009, 292, another example of this group; and similar examples in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the Victoria and Albert Museum, in Clunas, 1987, fig. 53 and Kerr & Mengoni, 2011, 77.