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Lot Essay
This bust is after the Sèvres figures probably modeled by Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724 - 1805). Bachelier, who began working at Sèvres in 1748, was the Art Director from 1751 - 1793, being in charge of painting as well as modelling from 1753 - 1757 and again from 1766 - 1774, after Falconet's departure to Russia.
Between 1769 and 1780, Sèvres produced a series of small statuettes formed as term figures of classical figures, as well as series such as the Four Seasons. All of these have nearly identical bases as the present bust (E. Bourgeois and G. Lechevalier-Chevignard, Le Biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle, plates 17 and 18).
An identical model of Louis XVI, from the Estate of Mrs. Charles Engelhard, with the same base of oak leaves and porphyry plinth, but without the inscription of the present model, was sold, together with the matching bust of Marie Antoinette, Christie's, New York, 18 March, 2005, lot 296. A bust with identical inscription to the base from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Seligman, was sold Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 4 5 June 1935, lot 119.
Between 1769 and 1780, Sèvres produced a series of small statuettes formed as term figures of classical figures, as well as series such as the Four Seasons. All of these have nearly identical bases as the present bust (E. Bourgeois and G. Lechevalier-Chevignard, Le Biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle, plates 17 and 18).
An identical model of Louis XVI, from the Estate of Mrs. Charles Engelhard, with the same base of oak leaves and porphyry plinth, but without the inscription of the present model, was sold, together with the matching bust of Marie Antoinette, Christie's, New York, 18 March, 2005, lot 296. A bust with identical inscription to the base from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Seligman, was sold Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 4 5 June 1935, lot 119.