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Lot Essay
Henri Honoré Plé (d.1922) studied under Gérault and Mathurin Moreau, and worked as a painter and sculptor of portraits and bas-reliefs. He exhibited figures and projects for memorials at the Salon from 1877, winning an honourable mention in 1879 before going on to receive a bronze medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle.
The present lot - likely the model entitled "Femme de Mequinez" exhibited at the Salon of 1884 - is a fine example of polychrome sculpture. A controversial genre when revived in the 1850s by Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and John Gibson, polychromy became increasingly fashionable in the 1860's, eventually meriting its own class at the Salons and International Exhibitions.
The present lot - likely the model entitled "Femme de Mequinez" exhibited at the Salon of 1884 - is a fine example of polychrome sculpture. A controversial genre when revived in the 1850s by Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and John Gibson, polychromy became increasingly fashionable in the 1860's, eventually meriting its own class at the Salons and International Exhibitions.