Natural Pearl Dancing Dwarf Figurine

Dancing Dwarf, probably Frankfurt, before 1706. Baroque pearls, gold, enamel, silver, gold, diamonds. H 8.6 cm, Base: 3.6 x 3.6 cm. Green Vault, VI 97. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Irregularly grown "baroque pearls" winged human imagination since time immemorial. They provided both inspiration and material basis for the small statuettes made of gold, enamel and precious stones "with a body of Perl". The creativity of the artist who joined the humped shapes of the monstrous beads in associative way with figurative motifs were no limits. The spectrum of Perlfiguren includes animals, mythical creatures, but also harlequins, soldiers, beggars, saints and gods. With a total of 57 pieces of the Green Vault has the world's largest population of this, by 1700 many princely collectors popular gems. Most important supplier for August the Strong, who filled the console of his little corner cabinet with the jeweler sculptures, Guillaume was Verbecq. Although we find the name of the Huguenot jeweler in the accounting records of other princely courts, little is known about his person.Since he acquired works of art have very disparate character, he is primarily, if not exclusively be been working as a dealer. The actual author of the gems purchased by him therefore remain in the dark. For the dwarfs who coined the term "grotesque figures", the artists were primarily stimulate the graphic work Jacques Callot, which they call the silent tragedy of the Callotschen models usually sounds comical.
Source: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2013/08/26/27899124.html