RARE GROUPE DE 'L'AVARO DERUBATO', CAPODIMONTE, VERS 1750
A RARE CAPODIMONTE GROUP OF 'L'AVARO DERUBATO', CIRCA 1750

Modelled by Giuseppe Gricci, a man, the 'avaro' or penurious man, standing at a table counting his money, a draw-string purse laying under his arm, a lady standing behind her, her index finger pressed against her mouth as to indicate silence, reaching below his right arm for the bag, 14.2cm high, impressed fleur de lys (some restoration to base and her right arm)
Footnotes:
This group is likely loosely based on the popular moralising figure of the penurious or greedy man who appears, amongst others, in a play by Moliere, L'Avare, ou l'École du Mensonge, which first appeared in 1668 as a moral and comic tale of a man obsessed with money and his trials and tribulations. In a wider sense the group goes back to the biblical worldly sins of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth, but not all of these are depicted in Capodimonte porcelain. Another example of this group in the Museo Teatrale della Scala is illustrated by A. Caròla-Perrotti, Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli (1986), p. 177, ill. a.

There are two sections of the base broken on the left and right of the group, and this damage has resulted in restoration to table leg and left leg of the man, and also retouching and filling of 1/4 of the edge of the table. On her side, the group was broken through the base between her legs, the crack running behind her and splitting her from the man at the level of her lower skirt where it meets his jacket on the reverse (minimal break-line to her skirt, some restoration to hem of his jacket, and finishing behind her skirt, her right arm broken in the same break, and restored and overpainted. Overall, the overpainting exceeds the actual damage, and is largely slightly discoloured.