I bought this fine figure of a Gentleman Dandy because he was such a great character. A flamboyant and gregarious man-about-town from another era. You might see someone like this turn up on Penny Dreadful if any of you are fans. It was described as nineteenth century French. I had no reason to suspect otherwise back then.
In 2013 a marked example very much like this but in a paler shuffle of the enamel colours turned up in the listings of a New York auction house. The mark was for the Gardner Factory from the first half of the 19th century. It looks pretty obvious when you compare the two that they came from the same moulds and the same factory. I seem to be instinctively drawn to figures by Gardner and the other Russian factories.
Height 15.3 cm. Unmarked. Enamel on bisque (biscuit) porcelain.
