Dalva Brothers Antiques, Antique Furniture, New York

French 18th century furniture, clocks, lighting, paintings, porcelain, sculpture and tapestries

Pair Dihl and Guérard biscuit figures depicting a boy reading and a girl writing. Each figure is seated on a fabric draped block resting on a fluted plinth; the reading boy balancing a book on a crossed leg and the writing girl resting a tablet on her leg which is supported by a folio.  

A portrait plaque depicting Monsieur Dihl, with some of his greatest creations, shows the reading figure in profile. The sculpture is probably by Charles-Gabriel Sauvage dit Lemire who worked at the manufactory.

Other pairs are known: The Forsyth Wickes collection in The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a pair on glazed bases in The Sèvres Museum. A pair of bronzes of the same model is in the Louvre.

Reader:     Height - 17½" (44.5 cm.)    Width - 7¼" (19 cm.)         Depth - 8¼" (21 cm.)

Writer:  Height - 16¾" (42.5 cm.)    Width - 7¼" (19 cm.)         Depth - 7½" (19.1 cm.)