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Lot Essay
Born in Paris in 1841, Emile Guillemin (d.1907) made his début at the Salon in 1870 with a pair of Roman gladiators, later winning an Honorable Mention for sculpture in 1897. Although his oeuvre included a wide range of subjects, Guillemin specialised in exotic racial types and is renowned as a proponent of the Orientalist movement.
The present model, first exhibited at the Salon of 1880, is an example of the finely detailed polychrome sculptures for which Guillemin is best known. A controversial genre when revived in the 1850s by Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and John Gibson, polychromy became increasingly fashionable in the 1860s, eventually meriting it's own class at the Salons and International Expositions.
An unusual and romantic subject for portraiture, the Janissaire was a member of an elite corps in the service of the Ottoman Empire. Originally composed of war captives pressed into service, they eventually gained great power, making and unmaking sultans, before being abolished under Sultan Mahmud II (d.1839)
The vogue for 'Moorish' or 'Turkish' taste was first popularized in America by the Turkish bazaar at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and continued unabated through the 1890's. The presence of a retailer's mark for the prestigious New York firm of Tiffany and Company is an indication that this subject had a ready market in America at the end of the 19th century.
The present model, first exhibited at the Salon of 1880, is an example of the finely detailed polychrome sculptures for which Guillemin is best known. A controversial genre when revived in the 1850s by Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and John Gibson, polychromy became increasingly fashionable in the 1860s, eventually meriting it's own class at the Salons and International Expositions.
An unusual and romantic subject for portraiture, the Janissaire was a member of an elite corps in the service of the Ottoman Empire. Originally composed of war captives pressed into service, they eventually gained great power, making and unmaking sultans, before being abolished under Sultan Mahmud II (d.1839)
The vogue for 'Moorish' or 'Turkish' taste was first popularized in America by the Turkish bazaar at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and continued unabated through the 1890's. The presence of a retailer's mark for the prestigious New York firm of Tiffany and Company is an indication that this subject had a ready market in America at the end of the 19th century.