A very rare Capodimonte group of Pantalone and Columbine ("Pantalone addormentato"), modelled by G. Gricci, circa 1750

Columbine holding a candle beneath the sleeping Pantalone's beard, their costume edged in bue, red, purple and orange, on a plain rectangular base, fleur-de-lys mark in blackish-blue

candle restored, tiny chips to edges
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Giuseppe Gricci, creating the model for this group, was inspired by a set of paintings depicting the misfortune of Harlequin by the Tuscan painter Gian Domenico Ferretti ( 1692-1768) who was commissioned to produce this series after assisting the performance of Carlo Goldoni's comedy " The Thirty two misadventures of Harlequin " in Florence in 1742.

In particular Gricci took as a source for his group a painting of Columbine attacking Harlequin, softening the violence of the composition to create a new witty subject.

Since Gricci was himself a Florentine, it is possible that he knew and had seen directly the work of Ferretti in Florence.

Two other groups of the same subject are known: the first one in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milano; the second in the Museo di Palazzo Madama, Torino.

For similar models, see A. Caròla-Perrotti, Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli : Capodimonte e Real fabbrica ferdinandea, 1743-1806, Naples, 1986, p. 154, fig. d,e. ; A. Caròla-Perrotti, "Le figure della Commedia dell'Arte viste dagli artefici napoletani", in Ceramica Antica, October 2011, p.32, figg.9,10. ; F. Stazzi, Capodimonte, Milan, 1972, N. 135, p.323. ; Mottola Molfino, Porcellana in Italia. Il Piemonte, Roma e Napoli, Busto Arizio, 1977, fig. 185.