Fauna And Bacchante- Group In Glazed Biscuit

Dionysiaques Voluptés.-After Claude MICHEL, dit CLODION (1738-1814), Faune et Bacchante- Glazed biscuit group appearing on a small mossy mound with leaves brightened up with a large basket filled with grapes and mixed Bacchic attributes (thyrsus , vine branches, Basque tambourine, Pan flute), a naked young Bacchante, head thrown back, body quivering; she voluptuously embraces a robust and ardent Fauna brandishing with a nimble gesture a juicy bunch of grapes, a source of intoxication and cheerful swoons. Oval base. Signed in hollow on the terrace: "Clodion" and mark in blue crowned N of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory of Naples (Italy). Kindly referred to by art historians as "Le Fragonard de la Sculpture", Claude Michel dit Clodion (1738-1814) was able to seduce with his work all shaped with playful verve, elegant sensualities, art lovers and collectors of a an era in love with laughing banter. Like this biscuit made on one of the artist's models (Faune et Bacchante, terracotta, 1770, Paris, Louvre Museum), his groups featuring Satyrs, Fauns and Bacchantes in particular were very popular. Placed under the tutelage of the Thyrsus, the Basque drum or the Pan Flute, vines, bunches of grapes-objects associated with the merry Dionysian procession-these lively compositions, with spicy finery will support just like those on another thematic and formal register - by François Boucher (1703-1770), Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714-1785) or even by Etienne Maurice Falconnet (1716-1791) - the fame of the Manufacture Royale de Sèvres. they won the votes of European porcelain centers throughout the 19th century. Re-edited in the form of biscuits or even small bronzes dedicated to pleasing interiors or adorning movable and watch parts, the suave and fine terracotta models modeled in the 18th century by Clodion will travel with their joyful lightness through the decorative arts of the Second Empire-, highly festive period. Even more, they will breathe their jubilant imagination into the sculpted works of James Pradier (1790-1852), Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) including the groups "Satyre and Bacchante" - respectively dated 1834 (marble, Paris, Musée du Louvre) and 1890 (Marbre, Paris, Petit Palais) are conspicuously inspired