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Lot Essay
This figure is closely similar to one in the Huntingdon Art Gallery, San Marino, California, attributed to Louis-Félix de la Rue (1731-65) (R. Wark, Sculpture in the Huntingdon Collection, San Marino, 1959, p. XXVI and pp. 70-71). The attribution is based on the fact that another version of the putto in the Secrétan sale was inscribed: 'Larue inv., Gautier sculp. 1760' (Catalogue de ... collection de M.E. Secrétan, III: Objets d'art, Paris, 1889, no. 209). This implies that La Rue, who spent most of his brief career making models for Sèvres porcelain after designs by François Boucher, made the original model, probably in terracotta, and that the marble was carved by 'Gautier'. Indeed, this particular putto with grapes was among the earliest models manufactured at Sèvres, as it dates from circa 1746 or 1750 (E. Bourgeois, Le Biscuit de Sèvres, Paris, 1913, pl. 2, no. 77). A reduced version of the marble in the Cognac-Jay Museum (no. 222) is signed 'Gautier sculp 1769'.
In view of the barely legible initial letter 'G' of the sculptor's name in the signature, and those on similar models elsewhere, there is little doubt that the marble was carved by Gautier. The most likely candidate is Gérard Gautier (1723-95), who was an assistant of Falconet, and who was in turn most connected to the world of biscuit de Sèvres figures and hence La Rue.
In view of the barely legible initial letter 'G' of the sculptor's name in the signature, and those on similar models elsewhere, there is little doubt that the marble was carved by Gautier. The most likely candidate is Gérard Gautier (1723-95), who was an assistant of Falconet, and who was in turn most connected to the world of biscuit de Sèvres figures and hence La Rue.