Ivory figure of a beggar woman

Beggars, vagrants, and vagabonds have long held popular appeal and are frequently depicted on paintings and drawings. People of class and distinction were also interested in such figures during the 18th century. They are for instance represented in Meissen porcelain.

Many model makers in porcelain factories were trained as ivory carvers or sculptors, specialized in making small sculptures. Wilhelm Krüger was this sort of ivory worker, and is known to have made figures of beggars. From 1711 he was involved with the Dresdener Kunstkammer. This beggaress, who is incidentally wearing a well-stocked pouch and is doubtless less impoverished than she is pretending to be, was based on a drawing by Jacques Callot (1592–1635). The wonderfully carved original base is a remarkable detail. Krüger was supplied with such bases and frames for his sculptures and reliefs by a specialist in this field.

There was also an interest in the Netherlands for such figures. In his published research into the lacquer cabinet that was formerly at the Stadtholderly Court in Leeuwarden, and has been part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum since 1880, Johan de Haan mentions that, apart from pieces inlaid with amber, there was also a table on which is placed a company of beggars, very artfully made from ivory. This refers to the thirteen figures of beggars made in the style of Simon Troger (b. 1683; d. 1768) which are now also in the Rijksmuseum. These figures were acquired in 1817 from a private collection in Leeuwarden.

Ongoing research into this interesting matter has established that these ivory beggar figures, partly done in pear wood, even though they also have glass eyes, are certainly not by Simon Troger, but by one of his followers, Veit Graupenberg, who was active in Tyrol.