Terms and conditions of use
Figure of a woodcutter
(1745-1750)
- Medium
- porcelain (hard-paste)
- Measurements
- 13.3 × 5.0 × 8.8 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Meissen, Saxony, Germany
- Accession Number
- 2024.499
- Department
- International Decorative Arts
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Patricia Begg OAM Bequest, 2024
© Public Domain - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Depictions of members of various trades and professions and of peoples from different parts of the globe were produced in large numbers by factories across Europe. These sculptures were not merely a visual catalogue of the eighteenth-century social order. Many of the featured roles were favourite disguises at aristocratic masquerades and entertainments, where playing at being members of the lower social orders functioned as an expression of power. The subjects of many of the figures are thus ambiguous: Are they images of everyday life, or are they images of aristocrats engaged in role-play?