These figures belong to a Presepe, a group of figures making up a Nativity Scene. This Italian tradition goes back to the thirteenth century and spread to France, Spain and Austria. It reached a high point in eighteenth century Naples, with the addition of figures dressed in their everyday clothes going about their daily tasks. Here two women are getting on with the washing. The figures are built up with straw or string on a wire framework, and have faces, hands and feet moulded from clay. At some time an electric pump has been incorporated to circulate water from the jug to the tub.

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