ARMAND ALBERT RATEAU (1882-1938)

A FINE PERPETUAL CALENDAR, CIRCA 1925

Details

ARMAND ALBERT RATEAU (1882-1938)
A FINE PERPETUAL CALENDAR, CIRCA 1925
patinated and gilt-bronze
12 ½ in. (31.8 cm.) high
stamped A. A. RATEAU INVR PARIS

Provenance

Family of the present owner;
Thence by descent.

Further details

This figural calendar has all the hallmarks of Rateau’s sophisticated aesthetic – the kneeling figure in her stylised classical tunic, the birds and the serpent circling the central roundel, motifs that draw on his favored repertoire from antiquity, and the bronze itself, his signature medium, here part-gilt, part-patinated.

The overall form calls to mind archaic Greek bronze ‘Korai’ (‘Maiden’) hand-mirrors in which caryatid figural handles support the circular mirror, models popular in the sixth and early fifth centuries BC, examples of which Rateau may have seen in the collections of the Louvre.

Sale room notice

Please note that Christie’s has a direct financial interest in this lot.

Lot Essay

cf. Y. Brunhammer, Art Deco Style, London, 1983, p. 119;
F. Oliver-Vial, F. Rateau, Armand Albert Rateau, Paris, 1992, p. 217.

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