CHARLES-HENRI-JOSEPH CORDIER (FRENCH, 1827-1905)

Cheik arabe d'Égypte (Arabian sheik from Egypt)

Details

CHARLES-HENRI-JOSEPH CORDIER (FRENCH, 1827-1905)
Cheik arabe d'Égypte (Arabian sheik from Egypt)
signed 'cordier', on gilt-bronze socle
bronze, gilt and patinated; silvered electrotype
14 ½ in. (37 cm.) high, the bust
17 ½ in. (44.5 cm.) high, overall
Conceived circa 1867.
This bronze circa 1870.

Provenance

Private collection, Vienna.
Thence by descent for several generations until acquired by present owner.

Literature

L. de Margerie et al., Facing the Other: Charles Cordier (1827-1905) Ethnographic Sculptor, Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 2004, no. 97 & 98, p. 155

Brought to you by

Giles Forster

gforster@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2146

Lot Essay

Arabian sheik was first exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition universelle and then the 1873 Vienna exhibition (no. 887), where it is interesting to speculate the original Viennese owners of the present lot first encountered the sculpture. Another bronze of the same model with similar patina is the collection of the Mahoud Kahil Museum, Cairo, a bequest to the Egyptian government.

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