Conta & Boehme That's Funny, Very Funny, Very Very Funny! Fairing Group

Offered for sale is an utterly charming late 19th century "Fairing" group produced by Conte & Boehme. The piece depicts three children, probably siblings, smiling and holding their hands to their tummies in a gesture of amusement. 'That's funny, very funny, very very funny!' is the amusing caption. Beautifully hand painted it has an impressed number 3373 on the underside of the base and the Conte Boehme "shield" mark. Fairing refers to a small porcelain ornament depicting a variety of scenes, humorous, political or domestic. The ornament almost always incorporates a base and many fairings have a caption describing the scene or making some point inscribed on that base. China fairings are so named because they were given away as prizes at fairs in the Victorian era, although some were manufactured simply for sale. They first started appearing in the middle of the nineteenth century and remained popular until the start of the First World War.