Couture Edition · Dottore
| Product: | Dottore |
| Description: | Couture Edition, limited edition of 25 |
| Design: | Franz Anton Bustelli, 1759/60 |
| Decor: | Gustavo Lins, 2008 |
| Height: | 21 cm |
| Item number: | 18.966 |
Dottore is the most conceited person in the Commedia dell’Arte. A typical know-all, the Bustelli Dottore raises his right hand to his forehead asserting his “objection,” but his vast lore of knowledge soon turns out to be ignorant hearsay. He has nothing in common with a real scholar except his affected gesture. In reality, it’s his self-importance that matters. The extent of his vanity can probably be best measured by the excessive projection of the hips.
Dottore’s new look is opulent, commensurate with the character’s vast self-regard. From hat to footwear, he is covered with a filigree network of dark lines, mainly horizontal and vertical. In some places, differently coloured substrata show through beneath the irregular freehand lines. Some parts remain contrapuntally monochrome, in saffron yellow, rust red and turquoise. The fine hatching of the pattern is a perfect imitation of the look of leather subjected to the over-top-stitching technique, a typical feature of a Lins collection. In this, fine leather is unsystematically over-stitched with a multitude of threads. The end result is more than just an unusual pattern – it is virtually a new material, with the leather acquiring more and more of the soft, flexible character of delicate fabric.
In his Dottore design, Lins echoes a feature of another Bustelli piece, indicating the couturier’s close study of the manufactory’s historical designs. In his masterly bust of Count Sigmund von Haimhausen (the first director of the manufactory) [see p. 47], Bustelli made a clear distinction between the parts representing textiles and the areas representing human skin: he painted only the fabrics, leaving everything else in the natural porcelain colour. Lins does the same – Dottore’s hands and face are unpainted.
Individual figures are only available with Limit No. 16 – 25. It is not possible to order specific numbers. The figures will be supplied with a certificate in a gift box specially designed for the collection.