Jacques Léonard Maillet - Allegorical Statue In Sterling Silver Circa Nineteenth (1866)

ALLEGORICAL STATUE in solid silver representing a goddess in a magnificent draped dress, still panting from the race she has just completed, raises above her head the palm she has just won. Statue listed in H. BOUILHET's book "French Goldsmithing of the 18th & 19th centuries.

This statue was the subject of a reward for a victory of the stallion "Gladiateur" during the Grand Prix de l'Impératrice race, in 1866, at the Longchamps racecourse. This horse belonged to Count Frédéric de LAGRANGE, French politician and senator of the Second Empire. A large bronze statue made by Isidore Bonheurr in 1866 represents him in Paris, near the entrance to the Lonchamp racecourse.
Dimensions: height of the statue alone 58 cm - base height 8 cm or total height 66 cm.
Material: Silver 1st title 950/°°°
Weight: 7520 grams
Hallmark: MINERVA
Period: 1866 (dated and signed)
Goldsmith: Jacques Léonard MAILLET (1823-1895)
Origin: France/Paris

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 19th century bronze -Page 448 – Amateur edition
MAILLET Jacques Leonard (1823/1895)
First Grand Prix de Rome in 1847, after studying under the direction of FEUCHERE then PRADIER, he stayed five years in Rome and then started at the Salon in 1853.
He works for several Parisian churches, for the Louvre, for the Hôtel de Ville, and the Opera.
His work, very marked by ancient and biblical themes, also includes small terracottas and models for goldsmithing.
In 1859, he exhibited at the Salon one of his major works, a plaster cast, Agrippina carrying the ashes of Germanicus, the marble of which was placed in the Parc Monceau in Paris in 1893.