Given the sophisticated and yet minimalist fashions of the French haute couturier Adeline André, her design for the Commedia dell’Arte – Couture Edition comes as a surprise. Adeline André opted for the figure of Anselmo, an elderly music teacher and attentive listener whose gesture imposes silence – silenzio. Instead of tailoring him a new costume, she picked up the theme of music and transformed the whole figure into a nightingale.

André’s Anselmo is covered from top to bottom in ultrafine brownish feathers. His cloak has become wings, his hat part of his head. Under the wings, we see a delicate pink, velvety-looking under-down. The highly detailed patterns are all painted on the figure freehand but with great precision by painters at the Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg. The scale-like patterns on the legs are again those of a bird, while the hands have mutated into claws. Nothing about the figure is human any more. The nose is now a dark, horned beak, and even the old man’s stick features as a branch of a tree on which the nightingale has alighted.

André’s design can be seen as metaphorical. The ageing music lover is represented by an externally unostentatious bird that nonetheless captivates mankind with its song. With the nightingale as a symbol of love, Adeline André also alludes subtly to Anselmo’s interest in Corine (Coralina).

Individual figures are only available with Limit No. 16 – 25. It is not possible to order specific numbers. The figures will be supplied with a certificate in a gift box specially designed for the collection.