Lot Essay
This group is inspired by the celebrated marble attributed to Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). This attribution is supported by the terracotta version included in Houdon's sale in 1795 and the pair in marble, including the companion piece Le Baiser Rendu, signed Houdon fecit 1778 and 1780 respectively, sold at the Muhlbacher sale in May 1899.
A related pair of bronze groups is in the Wallace Collection, London (J.G. Mann, M.A., F.S.A., Wallace Collection Catalogues, Sculpture, London, 1931, pp. 79-80, cat. S217, and plate 54), while, the same group in Sèvres biscuit porcelain surmounts a clock illustrated in J.D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Paris, 1996, no.219.
A related pair of bronze groups is in the Wallace Collection, London (J.G. Mann, M.A., F.S.A., Wallace Collection Catalogues, Sculpture, London, 1931, pp. 79-80, cat. S217, and plate 54), while, the same group in Sèvres biscuit porcelain surmounts a clock illustrated in J.D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Paris, 1996, no.219.