A FRENCH TERRACOTTA BUST OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE

AFTER JOSEPH CHINARD, 19TH CENTURY

Details

A FRENCH TERRACOTTA BUST OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE
After Joseph Chinard, 19th Century
Her hair braided at the top and drawn back into a bun, wearing a diadem and looking slightly to the left, her gown with scalloped shoulders and anthemion ornament, above an integral rectangular base inscribed Chinard Sc L'Institut et Membre de plusiers Academies
26in. (67.5cm.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 8 December 1977, lot 31

Lot Essay

Several versions of the present bust are known. There are examples in marble in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm and at the Muse de Malmaison, Paris. A closely related version in terracotta formerly in the Penha-Longa Collection was sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris 12 December 1911, (see G. Hubert, La Sculpture dans L'Italie Napolonienne, exh. cat., Paris, 1964, pp. 352-3, fig. 175-6).