Figure of a Mischief Maker (1766): Art, History and Details

Figure of a Mischief Maker (1766) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Etienne-Maurice Falconet (French, 1716–1791); Sèvres Porcelain Factory (French, est. 1756).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Over a period of three years, designs for 17 young children involved in various activities were issued by sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet after which they were regularly reproduced as porcelain figurines. This figure, who pulls back a slingshot, would have been modeled after one of these designs. Decorative figurines like these were often included in elaborate dining services to be placed about a table along with the usual tureens and tableware.

Object facts

• Title: Figure of a Mischief Maker
• Date: 1766
• Creator attribution: Etienne-Maurice Falconet (French, 1716–1791); Sèvres Porcelain Factory (French, est. 1756)
• Culture: France, Sèvres
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Unglazed soft-paste porcelain (biscuit)
• Dimensions: Overall: 11.8 x 6.1 x 7 cm (4 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1961.13

A detail from the museum

Thirty-one figures modeled after Falconet’s series were included in the dinner service given by French King Louis XV to Christian VII, King of Denmark, in 1768.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bourgeois, Émile. Le biscuit de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Goupil, 1909.
• Bourgeois, Émile, and Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard. Le biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: P. Lafitte, 1913.
• Réau, Louis. Etienne-Maurice Falconet. Paris: Demotte, 1922.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.