Featured interesting Chinese figurine from 1740. Ashkanazi jewish woman.

Originally referred to as Lady Duff (see Christies label on bottom) research by expert Ron Fuchs II showed that this actually an Ashkanazi woman based on period dress. From a recent auction.

 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1963-0422-11

 

Fascinating.

Debora

 

Did someone have her made in China for trade to Eastern Europe, or was Chinese porcelain a hot style there too?

 

From the British Museum link that @Roaring20s posted -

Production date
1735-1745 (circa) (circa)
Production place
Made in: Jingdezhen
Asia: China: Jiangxi (province): Jingdezhen

Curator's comments
Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:
This figure is sometimes paired with a figure of a gentleman (Sargent, 1991, no.51) and was intended for display in the houses of wealthy Europeans. The figure is probably modelled after a costume print as yet untraced. Pictures of foreigners in characteristic costumes were popular in China as well as in Europe in the 18th century. Such figures were produced from moulds and other examples of this model are, for example, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (no. C.94-1963); in the Mottahedeh collection (Howard and Ayers, 1978, vol. I , pl. 641); in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (Sargent, 1991, no.51); and in the Espirito Santo collection, Lisbon, Portugal (Beurdeley, 1962, pl.XVIII).View lessabout curator's comments
Ronald Fuchs "European Subjects on Chinese Porcelain" in TOCS volume 72 (2007-8), pp. 35-41 identifies the print where this figure and its male companion appear. This is by Casper Luyken " Frankfurther Jud und Juden" from Abraham a Sancta Clara's Neu eroffnete Wely Galleria ( Nuremburg 1703). An example is in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

The destinctive garments such as the ruffled collar and cap with peaked ears were prescribed by Jewish anti-sumptuary laws.View lessabout curator's comments
Bibliographic references
Krahl & Harrison-Hall 1994 / Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics from the British Museum (32)
Ferguson 2021 / Pots, Prints and Politics: Ceramics with an Agenda, from the 14th to the 20th Century (Chapter 7, p.68, fig.79)

 

that style of dress looks pretty sumptuous to me.........