A Höchst Commedia dell'Arte figure of Pantalone, circa 1755A Höchst Commedia dell'Arte figure of Pantalone, circa 1755Modelled by J.C.L. von Lücke, wearing a fur-lined red hat, black long coat, red shirt and breeches with a dagger to his left side, on a marbled pedestal with tree-stump support at the rear, 23.3cm high, (minor crazing to glaze on legs)Provenance: With Guido Rossi, Milan (paper label to base);European private collection since the 1960sFor a discussion of the model, the attribution to the modeller Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke, who was also active at the Meissen and Vienna factories, see Horst Reber, Die Commedia dell'Arte an der Höchster Porzellanmanufaktur, in R. Jansen (ed.), Commedia dell'Arte, Fest der Komödianten (pp. 138-144 in the German language volume). The author suggests (p. 41) that the Höchst Italian Comedy figures of this series, and a series of Würzburg figures also on pedestals, were influenced by the statues that stood in the garden of the Schönborn Palais in Vienna through engravings of 1727 by Salomon Kleiner.The figure of Pantalone is probably based on the engraving of 'Pantalon', published by Johann Jacob Wolrab, Nuremberg, circa 1720.Another example of this figure, together with the female companion figure, was sold in these Rooms, 18 June 2014, lot 157.