CAST BY GRAUX-MARLY FROM A MODEL BY FRANÇOIS-CHRISTOPHE-ARMAND TOUSSAINT, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

The present bronze is the largest bronze example of a plaster model first exhibited in the 1847 Salon (no. 2161) under the title Un esclave indien portant une torche alongside its pendant female figure. Also exhibited in bronze in 1850 was a pair that were commissioned by the French state on 23 February that year for the Ministre de l'Intérieur at the Elysée Palace. Though often edited by Barbedienne in various reductions, the present example possibly counts among the earliest cast by the renown Second Empire fondeur Graux-Marly. A pair of pendant figure of this largest size sold The Estate of Rochelle Sepenuk, Sotheby's, New York, 21 October 2008, lot 85 ($218,500).