Laughing Lawyer

This terracotta figure is attributed to Pieter Xavery (b. 1647), a Netherlandish sculptor, who mainly worked in clay, and seems to have specialised in caricatures subjects.

The subject of the statuette, along with that of the 'Weeping Lawyer' (V&A no. A.72-1953), may have been inspired by contemporary representations of the ancient Greek philosophers Democritus and Heraclitus, who are likewise depicted as laughing and weeping. The two philosophers were also painted by a number of Dutch artists, for example Hendrick ter Brugghen in his painting of 1628, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.