A rare Chelsea figure of a Ranelagh Masquerader, circa 1759-63


Masked and in lively dancing attitude, playing a flute which he holds in both hands, his right knee raised, a lantern, a bottle of wine and a glass suspended from a berried garland over his shoulder, his costume painted in bright colours, the scrolled base applied with flowers and picked out in gold, 20.3cm high, gold anchor mark
|This figure belongs to a group traditionally said to portray characters from the masque held at the Ranelagh Gardens to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Prince of Wales on 24 May 1759, although none correspond exactly with prints issued at the time by Bowles after Maurer. Horace Walpole wrote of a previous Masquerade at Ranelagh in a letter to Horace Mann sent from Strawberry Hill on 3 May 1749: 'In one quarter, was a May-pole dressed with garlands and people dancing round it to a tabor and pipe and rustic music, all masqued, as were all the various bands of music that were disposed in different parts of the garden; some like huntsmen with French horns, some like peasants, and a troop of harlequins and scaramouches in the little open temple on the mount... All round the outside of the amphitheatre were shops, filled with Dresden china, Japan, &c., and all the shopkeepers in mask' Another similar figure is in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection, illustrated by John C Austin (1977), p.147, pl.137. See also p.140 where they are shown as part of a group of eleven masqueraders. Another version was exhibited in the Chelsea China from Private Collections exhibition in 1999, catalogue p.39 and front cover. See also the figure of a masquerader playing a violin sold by Bonhams 6 June 2007, lot 216, the pair with foliate costumes sold by Bonhams 3 October 2012, lot 62 and the pair with the same male figure also sold by Bonhams 18 May 2016, lot 319