Janissaire du sultan Mahmoud II (Janissary of Sultan Mahmoud II) and Jeune fille du Caire (Young girl of Cairo)

Exquisitely cast and chased, these superb busts are amongst the most celebrated works by Émile Coriolan Hippolyte Guillemin, an acclaimed 19th century French sculptor whose œuvre spanned the diverse genres of the age: from `orientalist’ busts to heroic figures, historicist groups to works of decorative art, created in partnership with the Babedienne foundry. Guillemin’s sculptures were characterized by an exceptional attention to detail and virtuoso polychrome decoration, both visible in the present lot.

Guillemin showed regularly at the Paris Salons from 1870, with the present models, Janissaire du sultan Mahmoud II and Jeune fille du Caire, shown at the Salon of 1880, as numbers 6395 and 6396, respectively. The first represents a Janissary, a member of an exclusive and elite corps in service to the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, which exercised considerable power until its elimination in the early 19th century. The second figure represents a young Egyptian woman wearing exquisitely cast jewels and finely articulated draperies. Both evoke the enduring European fascination with Egypt and the Middle East, and are amongst the finest examples of sculpture in the `orientalist’ genre, de rigueur in the second half of the 19th century. A similar pair of busts sold Christie’s, London, 26 June 2007, lot 84 (£156,000).