Dalva Brothers Antiques, Antique Furniture, New York

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

 

full screen image

print image and details

 Bronze sculpture of Silenus by Etienne-Maurice Falconet after Boucher.
 
Bronze sculpture of Silenus by Etienne-Maurice Falconet after Boucher. The sculpture depicts the plump figure of the drunken Silenus seated on a small hill surrounded by three inebriated bacchantes and a human child playing with a satyr child. Silenus was the foster-father of Dionysus and when drunk, had the power of prophecy.
The subject was also made in biscuit porcelain at Sèvres; the first copy was delivered to Louis XV in 1759. The terra cotta is in the Musée national de Céramique-Sèvres. The composition is based on a design by Boucher engraved by Falconet’s son and published by Joullain. (See: Falconet á Sèvres ou l’art de plaire; Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2001. Page 108 and pages145-147.)
This is one of Falconet’s most complex sculptures, composed of reclining figures swirling around Silenus. A tour de force of bronze-making, each of the six figures is separately cast and attached to the extraordinarily well chased base. The bronze is signed on the base: “Falconet 1769”.
Height (ins.): 10 (25.4 cm)      Length/Width (ins.): 8.5 (21.6 cm)      Depth (ins.): 9 (22.9 cm)
Origin: France, 1769     Period: Louis XV

 

 

<< Previous Page