- 472
A pair of French bronze figures of peddlers, 18th/19th century
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- bronze
light olive green patina beneath dark brown lacquer, the round basket inscribed A ROME, the square package inscribed A BREST, each stamped with a 'C' couronné on base, each upon a low white marble base.
Provenance
Sotheby's New York, January 9-10, 1990, lot 90
Literature
M. H. Schwartz (ed.), European Sculpture from the Abbott Guggenheim Collection, New York, 2008, no. 97, p. 182
Catalogue Note
A similar pair of figures is in the Wallace Collection in London, where the inscriptions read 'A VENISE' and 'A ROME'. J.G. Mann in his 1931 catalogue of that collection refuted the earlier consensus that the models date from the early 18th century and considered them Flemish, second quarter 19th century. However a pair bearing a C couronne French customs stamp used between 1745 and 1749 emerged at Christie's London, April 7, 1975, lot 67, proving that the date of the models must be earlier. Mann mentions a pair then in the collection of Dr. W.L. Hildburgh, labeled as the present pair with 'A BREST' and 'A ROME'; another pair inscribed this way was offered in these rooms March 24, 1973, lot 114.