An extremely rare Höchst figure of Dottore Boloardo, modelled by J. C. L. von Lücke, circa 1752

dressed all in black, with yellow gloves hanging from his belt, standing with arms outstretched, on a blue-edged pedestal, impressed I and incised g

Lempertz Kunsthaus, Cologne, April 1998

Both arms broken and repaired with some flaking around crack, some flaking at paint and chip at hat (reverse of the rim), two fingers missing
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Höchst factory initially produced faience and first succeeded in making porcelain in 1746. Its reputation rests largely on the products of a very short period, 1746-1753, essentially thanks to its Commedia dell'Arte figures. Johann Gottfried Becker was the first modeller to design Italian Comedy figures, clearly echoing the Meissen models, mainly the Duke of Weissenfels' series. Simon Feilner and Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke, two other very gifted modellers both started around 1750, and in 1752, the factory was producing its own series of Comedy figures of its own design. The identification of the modeller was for a long time unknown but the figures of this series have now been attributed with certainty to von Lücke.

Von Lücke took inspiration from the series of comedy figures published around 1720 by Johann Jacob Wolrab in Nuremberg (see detail). Fifteen of the sixteen fgures from the Italian Comedy from the Edward Pfleuger collection, are now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  The sixteenth, the present figure of Dottore Bolloardo, was unknown during his lifetime, appearing in the German trade after his death. For a full discussion, see Horst Reber "The Commedia dell'Arte at the Hochst Porcelain factory" in R. Jansen, op. cit, pp. 39-43.