The present sheet and the following lot are among Gillot's most captivating works inspired by popular plays in the Commedia dell'Arte tradition. This was a genre in which Gillot excelled, and his compositions of this type, drawings that are dated by scholars to between 1704 and 1716, are some of the most attractive and spirited in all his work.

We are grateful to Dr. Jennifer Tonkovich for having identified the subject of the present sheet and for the following information. The 'Scene de l'Apothicaire' is taken from Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune (1684), a satirical comedy in three acts by Anne Mauduit de Fatouville, which featured in Gherardi's Le Theatre Italien. The play was a major source for Gillot early in his career, and he made drawings illustrating a number of its scenes, one of which served as the basis for the collaboration with Watteau that resulted in the painting, Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes.1 Watteau assisted Gillot from around 1704-1708, and it was in Gillot's atelier that the young artist developed his taste and talent. Dr. Tonkovich suggests that the present sheet, along with many of the other drawings in the series, date from this period of collaboration between the two artists, or a little earlier: circa 1700-1707. (See also the following lot.)

Tonkovich has also drawn our attention to the numberings in pen and ink in the upper right corner of this drawing and the following lot, which indicate that both sheets were once part of the same, still unidentified collects ion. Another theatrical drawing by Gillot, Arlequin femme grosse, formerly in the Mariette collects ion and now in the Louvre, is similarly numbered: 23.2

Gillot's graphic style is characterized by vibrant and abbreviated penwork, enriched with luminous and abundant reddish wash, which work together very effectively to convey the comical elements and also the speed of action of a stage performance.

The present drawing was engraved, in reverse, by Gabriel Huquier (fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Jacques Gabriel Huquier, Harlequin, Emperor on the Moon, engraving after Claude Gillot, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

1. A drawing related to the Fight Scene, now in private collects ion, was sold, Paris, Artcurial, 13 November 2013, lot 122

2. Paris, Louvre, inv. no. 26752; P. Rosenberg, Les dessins de la collects ion Mariette, Ecole française, Milan 2011, vol. II, p. 769, F 2098, reproduce