14. Très rare statuette en porcelaine de Meissen représentant une dame, circa 1720-25 A very rare Meissen figure of a lady, circa 1720-25 Probably modelled by Georg Fritzsche, as a housekeeper-lady standing on a square gilt-edged plinth, her face rendered in pale pink, her left hand placed in her waist in front of a gilt chatelaine with keys dangling from a braided gilt belt, her bodice in puce and gold, wearing a short jacket with gilt lining, her hair braided in an elaborate coiffure, and fixed on the back with braided ribbons in puce, 16cm high, (some restoration) Provenance: Reported to have been found in Venice in 1966 and exhibited in Rome at the 'Mostra Nazionale dell' Antiquariato in May 1966; Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection, Basel; Sold from the above by Christie's Geneva, 12 November 1976, lot 211 Literature: K. Strauss, Zwei unbekannte Meissner Porzellanfiguren, in Weltkust, 1 July 1966, fig. 1, p. 629; E. Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, I (1972), pp. 70-71; T.H. Clarke, Die Neu Eröffnete Welt-Galleria, Nürnberg 1703, als Stichvorlage für sogeenannte Callot-Zwerge, in Keramos 127 (1990), ill. 4 A similar figure, truncated and with the arms positioned differently, in the Dresden porcelain collection (inv. no. PE 3784), is described as "Ursula Schleglin" and thought to be based on the engraving, "Der Zwerg Ursula Schleglin", published in 'Il Callotto resuscitato. oder Neu eingerichtes Zwerchen-Cabinet', in Augsburg by Martin Engelbrecht around 1715. T.H. Clarke (see Literature above), however, argues that the figure is based on the engraving 'Nürnbergische Bäurin' [Nuremberg farmer's wife], published in Abraham a Sancta Clara's 'Neu-eröffnete Welt-Galleria' published in Nuremberg in 1703.