Lot Essay
Similar atheniennes can be seen in an engraving by J.J. Filipart, published in 1765 entitled La vertueuse Athénienne. Originally taken from a painting by Joseph-Marie Vien, executed in 1763 and called Prêtesse qui brûle de l'encens sur un trépied. Eberts, who published the engraving, produced his own tripod table a decade later, naming it Athénienne, after Filipart's curious title. (S. Eriksen, Early Neo-classicism in France London 1974p. 385, pl. 370).