Buffle d'eau (Water buffalo)

Buffle d'eau is a late work, only offered in Barye's final catalogue of 1874. Poletti and Richarme estimate the total number of lifetime épreuves to be less than ten. Purchased in 1876 and subsequently edited by Barbedienne, the modèle was later in the collection of Eduardo Guinle (d. 1941), and was sold Christie's New York, 25 May 1995, lot 158. Bearing an impression of the Barye modèle's Atelier sale lot number (603), and with unfinished individually cast sections, the present lot is possibly a second foundry modèle, or more likely, a posthumous épreuve left incomplete.