Marabout tenant un caïman dans ses pattes (A stork holding a caiman in its legs)

Created by one of the most celebrated animalier sculptors of the 19th century, Emmanuel Fremiet, the present bronzes are reductions of a series of four models conceived as the supports for a porphyry table top in the musée égyptien, later incorporated into vitrine cabinets installed in several French museums and today in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (DO 1983-81-84) (illustrated C. Chevillot, Emmanuel Frémiet, 1824-1910, La main et le multiple, Exhibition Catalogue, 5 November 1988 – 16 January 1989, Dijon, p. 87-88, S 85). The present bronzes demonstrate Fremiet’s exacting attention to detail and are a seemingly rare manifestation of the full scale models. The only other known models of this size are a pair in the Musée des Beaux-arts, Dijon, differentiated from the present lot by their rounded heads and polychrome decoration in gilt and patinated bronze.