Lot Essay
The present bronze, bearing Carpeaux's own foundry cachet, is a cast from the sculptor's re-modelled 1872 plaster bust of Le Chinois, his preliminary study for the full-length female figure representing Asia, part of the group of es Quatre Parties du Monde. Here, the sketchy treatment of the original study (see previous lot) has been replaced by smooth surfaces and the well-defined lines of the sitter's tunic.