Squatting Harlequin with Natural Pearl

Squatting Harlequin, probably Frankfurt am Main, 1st Quarter of the 18th Century. Baroque pearls, gold, enamel, silver, gold, diamonds. H 5.8 cm, W 5.3 cm, D 5.6 cm. Green Vault, VI 83 a. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Irregularly grown baroque pearls spurred the human imagination since time immemorial. They provided both inspiration and material basis for the small statuettes of gold, enamel and precious stones "with a body of Pearl". 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 - have served as a dealer. The actual author of the gems purchased by him therefore remain in the dark. For the grotesque dwarfs the , the artists were primarily stimulate the graphic work Jacques Callot, which they call the silent tragedy of Callotschen Gobbi mostly the sounds comical. Popular motifs were also the bizarre types of Italian impromptu comedy commedia dell'arte, such as the Harlequin.
Source: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2013/08/26/27899124.html