Viennese Bronze The Carpet Merchant

Two-piece Viennese Bronze. The small, brightly colored bronze figures, made in Vienna, Austria, from 1850 onwards, are bronzes of rare quality. Often small in size, Vienna bronzes can vary from a few millimeters to almost a meter. Attractive objects, these sculptures, of great finesse, surprise by their liveliness and their sometimes very amusing side. These 19th century bronze sculptures are well known for their high technical quality as well as for the great attention paid to detail, movement and expression; the talent of Austrian sculptors then reached an international level. These bronzes are famous for their naturalistic representation and are distinguished by a wide range of extremely varied subjects: human figures (representations of professions, oriental inspirations...), all species of animals and in particular birds (dogs, cats, horses, insects, reptiles, rodents,....), scenes with Indians or Arabs, erotic motifs as well as charming little comical scenes. The artists are inspired by different styles, Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau... Each of these works is a unique piece, the carving is done by hand and the details differ between two pieces. The finishes (painting, patina, etc.) are done by hand and are very careful. These bronzes have the particularity of being cold painted, according to processes whose secret has been lost. It is especially in France that the tradition of bronze figurines is widespread, it will be imported to Vienna by Mathias Bergmann, in 1850, the most famous workshop. It is at this date that he begins to melt and paint figurines. This is the beginning of the Vienna bronzes which would become world famous. (Sources: Marc Menzoian, Anticomania).