Dalva Brothers Antiques, Antique Furniture, New YorkFrench 18th century furniture, clocks, lighting, paintings, porcelain, sculpture and tapestries |
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| Unique and exceptionally large Locré and Russinger biscuit sculptural group depicting Meleager and Atalanta after the Calydonian Boar Hunt. The sculpture portrays Atalanta, the huntress, and Meleager at the summit of a rocky hill with Cupid holding a torch aloft behind them. Below, Hercules cradles the head of the boar that had been terrorizing Calydon. A huntsman blows a hunting horn and at the rear; a beautifully rendered stallion kicks. There are three lively hunting dogs on the hill. The piece is apparently unmarked. [Small repairs and replacements. Large firing crack. There is an unusual light glaze on the piece, perhaps caused by salt in the plaster moulds.] This group is certainly the Méléagre et Atalante by Laurent Russinger that was exhibited in the first Exposition des produits de l’industrie française held in 1798. (See: Régine de Plinval de Guillebon: Faïence et Porcelaine de Paris; Éditions Faton, Dijon, 1995, where the present piece is noted on page 113, and a similar large Locré biscuit sculpture depicting "The Triumph of Hercules" is illustrated on pages 114-115. This piece, in the Santa Catarina Museum in Treviso, is signed with an “R” for Russinger and may have been made earlier. In Les Biscuits de Porcelaine de Paris; Éditions Faton, Dijon, 2012 she mentions the present piece in several places. In the book’s preface, Daniel Alcouffe, the Conservateur général honoraire au musée du Louvre, predicts that because of this book the Méléagre et Atalante will be found. In the article “Les biscuits de porcelaine de Paris” in L’Estampille/L’Objet d’Art, Nº 483, October 2012, she mentions on page 73 that the piece made a sensation when first exhibited.) |
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| Height (ins.): 29 (75cm) | ||
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| Origin: France, late 18th century Period: Neo-Classical | ||
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