Lot Essay
The design of these sphinx ornaments is very similar and possibly based on a drawing attributed to Nicolas Coustou in the Cabinet of Drawings at the Stockholm Museum, thought to be a preliminary sketch for the lead figures of sphinxes which were placed on the terrace of the Royal Pavilion at Marly.
A pair of sphinxes of this model in the Wrightsman Collection are illustrated F. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1966, vol. III, p. 64, fig. 303A and B
The portrait of Pierre-Victor, Baron de Besenval (1722-1791) by H.-P. Danloux shows the famous collector beside a chenet mounted with a very similar sphinx (illustrated F. Watson and G. Wilson, Mounted Oriental Poreclain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1982, p.14
A pair of sphinxes of this model in the Wrightsman Collection are illustrated F. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1966, vol. III, p. 64, fig. 303A and B
The portrait of Pierre-Victor, Baron de Besenval (1722-1791) by H.-P. Danloux shows the famous collector beside a chenet mounted with a very similar sphinx (illustrated F. Watson and G. Wilson, Mounted Oriental Poreclain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1982, p.14