A CHINESE EXPORT GROUP OF A DANCING DUTCH COUPLE circa 1765-80

the lady wearing a rose-lined blue veil patterned with chrysanthemum blossoms, an iron-red bodice with a gilt-heightened black belt, and a pink-lined turquoise skirt patterned with floral sprigs, and her partner wearing a gilt-edged black tricorn, a lotus-patterned green coat, and an iron-red waistcoat and breeches, animatedly dancing on a 'faux bois' pierced rectangular base. Some restorations.

New York, International Asian Art Fair, 2002

His hat brim resttored; her foot restored; several tiny pinhead chips and a 3mm frit to the front upper edge of the base; all fingers with minor touch-ups.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The design sources for groups of this model and the related standing couple (of which the group in the preceding lot is the earlier version), have inspired curiosity among scholars for some time.  A group of this model is illustrated by Sargent, pp. 222 and 223, no. 107, who notes that these dancing figures portray "the same individuals as those of the standing group [illustrated ibid., p. 221, no. 106, and by Beurdeley, p. 21, color pl. V]; the faces of both groups may have come from the same molds [and the bases are identical].  The inspiration for the [dynamic] pose [with each dancer's left leg kicked up behind] may have been the dancing couple [known as the 'Tyrolean or Dutch Dancers'] first modeled in 1735 by Johann Friedrich Eberlein [1695-1749] at Meissen, later copied in England at Chelsea [circa 1755], Derby and Bow, and still later executed directly from the European originals in Chinese Export porcelain [about 1750-60]....  Five examples of the Chinese [export group based on] the Meissen originals were found on the wreck of the Geldermalsen and thus can be dated to circa 1750."  Groups of this later, more refined type are illustrated by Clunas, p. 71, no. 53; and Lunsingh Scheurleer, pl. 331.

Although the pose of the present dancers must be derived from the Meissen original, their features and costumes are more in the tradition of the earlier couple in the preceding lot, traditionally referred to as 'Governor Duff and his Wife' or a 'Frisian Couple.'  They have a generally naïve appearance and are clearly Chinese adaptations of a European concept, rather than an exact copy of a European prototype.  As pointed out by Sargent, p. 106, this is confirmed by the treatment of the costumes which, although typical of eighteenth-century European fashions, are decorated with Chinese-style peonies, chrysanthemums, clouds and gilt scrolls.  It is further confirmed by the use of a Chinese-style pierced plinth similar to those found on Kangxi biscuit figures and groups, as well as on late Qianlong porcelain figures.  Although less dynamic than the 'Tyrolean Dancers' group, the present couple conveys a greater sense of fun and exhilaration from the novelty of the dance.

These dancers, as well as the groups of the couple standing on an identical plinth of the type illustrated by Sargent, p. 221, no. 106, may have been purchased by both Europeans and Chinese; and on p. 220, the author notes that the Chinese aspects of the bases and costumes "may indicate that such figural groups found a market in China as curios for those interested in the physiognomy, costumes and social habits of Westerners.  Couples such as these are similar to those found in instructional books (and at least one scroll) that depict 'foreign barbarians' and attempted to describe their habits to the Chinese."

A group of this model almost identically decorated and illustrated in Connaissance des Arts, October 1964, pl. 99, was in the Garbisch Collection, sold by Sotheby Parke Bernet at "Pokety Farms" in Cambridge, Maryland on May 22, 1980, lot 269; and subsequently was in the collection of John T. Dorrance, Jr., sold at Sotheby's in New York on October 20, 1989, lot 372.