The figure of Dancing Harlequine, or Columbine, was recorded in Reinicke's work book for October 1744: 'tanzende Arlequinin', (dancing Harlequine), although a work report for October 1747 quotes the tanzende Arlequinin aus der Italienischen Comödie' as the last model of the Weissenfels series,¹ the series of twenty Italian Comedy figures made for Adolph II, Duke of Weissenfels, between 1743 and 1744 by Reinicke and Kändler. The engravings by François Joullain in the Histoire du Théâtre Italien were used as inspiration for the series, although these do not appear to have been used for this model.

For comparable examples in the Pauls-Eisenbeiss Collection in the Historisches Museum, Basel, see Reinhard Jansen (ed.), Commedia dell'Arte. Fest der Komödianten. Keramische Kostbarkeiten aus den Museen der Welt, Stuttgart, 2001, p. 55, nos. 37. See also Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, London, 1972, Vol. I, pp. 320-321, nos. 2. Another example is in the Gardiner Museum, Toronto (G83.1.931).

1. Birte Abraham, ibid., 2010, p.60.