Five Porcelain Figurines
Five figurines grace the show cabinets housing my porcelain collection. The earliest figurine was produced in the factory of Claudius du Pacquier, which was founded in Vienna in 1718. It is a Turk, modeled and fired around 1730. He sits crossed legged on a cushion. His right hand commands a troop or band. The Turk’s powerful, perhaps even threatening, expression belies his minute size. Porcelain experts took the view that this Turk might have been intended to serve as a tureen’s finial; but I have my doubts. He has his own vocation. He is a leader and not altogether benign. His object is to implement the Sultan’s policy. Nobody would use this Turk as the mere finial of a larger object. ...