Harlequin with pug as hurdy-gurdy 1735 - 1745

This porcelain figurine of a harlequin with a pug was created by the Meissen Manufactory. It shows how visual codes can be used to comment on social structures. Harlequin, a character from the Italian commedia dell’arte, was often portrayed as a witty and mischievous servant, challenging social norms through satire and improvisation. Here, made in eighteenth-century Germany, the harlequin carries a pug, a breed favored by the European aristocracy, as if it were a hurdy-gurdy. We might consider this imagery in relation to the changing status of the Meissen Manufactory, which began as a royal enterprise and later opened to the public. It's as though the harlequin plays the pug like an instrument, mocking the elite’s obsession with status symbols. To understand the figurine's meaning better, we might explore the history of commedia dell’arte, the Meissen Manufactory, and the cultural significance of pugs in eighteenth-century Europe. Art historians engage in such research to interpret art within its social and institutional contexts.