Capodimonte Porcelain Group Depicting A Beggar Woman, A Child, And An Infant In A Cradle

Hard‑paste porcelain figurine, modelled and decorated with polychrome enamels, bearing on the underside the Capodimonte mark in underglaze blue.

Naples, first half of the 20th century, after a model from the Imperial Meissen Porcelain Manufactory of the 18th century.

The figurine depicts a woman carrying an infant in a wooden cradle, accompanied by an older child holding a small stick. The subject is clearly inspired by a polychrome porcelain statuette identified as “beggar woman with child and infant in cradle”, attributed to Johann Joachim Kaendler and created for the Meissen manufactory.

The composition demonstrates a precise understanding of the models produced by the major European manufactories of the 18th century. Indeed, Capodimonte production of the 19th and early 20th centuries is characterised by a marked admiration for these prototypes, whose themes it adopts while imparting a distinctly Neapolitan chromatic vibrancy and narrative sensibility.

It is worth noting that another figurine of the same period and from the same Capodimonte manufactory, which I recently offered for sale — the bagpipe player — forms a pendant to the present piece.

Condition: very good overall condition; only a minor flaw to report: the stick held by the child is missing a few millimetres at the tip extending beyond the hand (see last photo).