Advanced Search 
Figure of Harlequin
Made by: Fulda Manufactory
German
about 1765
Medium/Technique
Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Overall: 15.2 × 7.3 × 5.7 cm (6 × 2 7/8 × 2 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Kiyi and Edward M. Pflueger Collection—Bequest of Edward M. Pflueger and Gift of Kiyi Powers Pflueger, from the Estate of Emma Lazarus Budge
Accession Number2017.82
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionStanding on a brown and green base, leaning against a brown treestump, his right foot forward, his head thrown back and turned right, his broad-brimmed green hat in his left hand, his brown wooden sword in his right, a black domino over his brown moustache, in short jacket with white circles on black ground and green borders, two heart-shaped patches in red on his breast, yellow stars near his hips, the sleeves with blue scale-pattern, green hearts at the elbows and black and red cuffs, with red-striped belt, long lilac trousers with darker stripes and brown shoes with yellow trimming.
Provenance1937, Emma Lazarus Budge (b. 1852 - d. 1937), Hamburg; October 4-6, 1937 (originally scheduled September 27-29, 1937), Budge sale, Graupe, Berlin, lot 974, sold for RM 1250 to Otto Blohm (b. 1870 - d. 1944) and Magdalena Blohm (b. 1879 - d. 1950), Hamburg, Caracas, and New York; October 9, 1961, Blohm sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 616, to Edward M. Pflueger (b. 1905 - d. 1997) and Kiyi Powers Pflueger (b. 1915 - d. 2006), New York; 2006, bequest of Edward M. Pflueger and gift of Kiyi Powers Pflueger to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 1, 2017)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Emma Lazarus Budge built up a collection of porcelain and decorative arts, which she housed at the “Budge-Palais,” the home she and her husband Henry shared on the Harvestehuderweg in Hamburg. Upon her death in 1937, she left the disposition of her art collection to her estate executors, specifying that she did not wish the collection to be sold within National Socialist Germany. Mrs. Budge, her heirs, and all of her estate executors were Jewish. Nevertheless, on October 4-6, 1937, a large portion of Emma Budge’s art collection was auctioned in Berlin. The proceeds from the sale were placed into tightly-controlled, blocked accounts to which the heirs did not have free access. Thus, as a direct result of racial persecution, the proceeds from the sale were never realized.
The seven pieces of porcelain now at the MFA were purchased at the auction by Otto and Magdalena Blohm. The Blohms, likewise porcelain collectors living on the Harvestehuderweg in Hamburg, were almost certainly acquaintances of the Budges. Mrs. Blohm moved to New York after World War II, bringing the porcelain collection with her. From the Blohms, these pieces were purchased by Edward and Kiyi Pflueger, who bequeathed their porcelain collection to the MFA in 2006. At that time, the estate of Emma Budge contacted the Museum regarding the seven figures sold in 1937. In 2017, the MFA reached an agreement with the estate, allowing the Museum to acquire the pieces fully and retain them for the collection.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Emma Lazarus Budge built up a collection of porcelain and decorative arts, which she housed at the “Budge-Palais,” the home she and her husband Henry shared on the Harvestehuderweg in Hamburg. Upon her death in 1937, she left the disposition of her art collection to her estate executors, specifying that she did not wish the collection to be sold within National Socialist Germany. Mrs. Budge, her heirs, and all of her estate executors were Jewish. Nevertheless, on October 4-6, 1937, a large portion of Emma Budge’s art collection was auctioned in Berlin. The proceeds from the sale were placed into tightly-controlled, blocked accounts to which the heirs did not have free access. Thus, as a direct result of racial persecution, the proceeds from the sale were never realized.
The seven pieces of porcelain now at the MFA were purchased at the auction by Otto and Magdalena Blohm. The Blohms, likewise porcelain collectors living on the Harvestehuderweg in Hamburg, were almost certainly acquaintances of the Budges. Mrs. Blohm moved to New York after World War II, bringing the porcelain collection with her. From the Blohms, these pieces were purchased by Edward and Kiyi Pflueger, who bequeathed their porcelain collection to the MFA in 2006. At that time, the estate of Emma Budge contacted the Museum regarding the seven figures sold in 1937. In 2017, the MFA reached an agreement with the estate, allowing the Museum to acquire the pieces fully and retain them for the collection.