A rare Meissen chess figure of a sultan, circa 1726Modelled by Georg Fritzsche, wearing a turban, flower-decorated cloak, tunic with iron-red dots and foliate motifs, a puce sash and yellow shoes and necklace, on an octagonal waisted plinth painted with purple foliate devices and edged in purple, 11.7cm high, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue (small chips)注脚One of a series of figures on a variety of pedestals produced from around 1725 variously referred to as dwarfs of different nations, chess pieces, and, simply statues or figures. They probably derive from a group of 161 plaster models acquired in Augsburg in January 1725, of which many can be linked to engravings after Caspar Luyken (M. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain 1710-50 (2008), pp. 581-582).A similar figure, together with its male counterpart, was in the Wilhelm Gumprecht Collection, Berlin (sold by Cassirer & Helbing, Berlin, 21 March 1918, lots 304 and 303, respectively). A chinoiserie figure on a similar base was in the Darmstädter Collection, Berlin (sold by Lepke's Berlin, 24-26 March 1925, lot 45). Other related figures on rectangular and circular plinths, which Ernst Zimmermann considered to be chess figures, are in the Spitzner Collection, Dresden (K.-P. Arnold, Figürliches Porzellab aus der Sammlung Spitzner (1988), nos. 12, 13 and 21-24). There are numerous mentions of chess figures, small statues and pedestals in the weekly reports of the turners and repairers; see Claus Boltz, Die wöchentlichen Berichte über die Tätigkeit der Meissner Dreher und Former vom 6. Juni 1722 bis 31. Dezember 1728, in Keramos 178 (2002), p. 59, and ills. 54-58. for other related figures.