FRENCH, FIRST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO GUILLAUME DE GROFF (1680-1742)

細節

A BRONZE EQUESTRIAN GROUP OF LOUIS XIV
french, first quarter 18th century, attributed to guillaume de groff (1680-1742)
The king crowned with laurel astride a rearing horse, light brown patina with traces of brown-gray varnish, above an ebony veneered and ormolu-mounted wood base, the ormolu struck in several places with the C couronné poinçon
16 1/8in. (41.25cm.) high, the base: 6½in. (16.5cm.) high

出版

G. Levitine, Falconet, New York, 1972, pl. 100
A. Gibbon, Bronzes Français du Grand Siécle, 1985, fig. 80

Comparative Literature:
H. Friis, Rytterstatuens Historie i Europa, 1988, fig. 182 P. Volk, Darstellung Ludwig XIV auf Steigendem Pferd, Wallraft-Richartz jb 18, Koln, 1966, p. 61, figs. 51-54

展覽

M. Knoedler & Co., The French Bronze 1500-1800, New York, 1968,
no. 53
Eighteenth Century France, A Study of its art and civilization, University of Notre Dame, 12 March -15 May 1972, no. 42

拍品專文

The C couronné poinçon was a tax mark used between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy using the metal copper.

This type of equestrian figure, traditionally ascribed to Desjardins, was attributed for the first time to de Groff by H. Friis on the strength of comparison with the small equestrian figure of Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria, signed by de Groff and dated 1741. P. Volk (op. cit.) distinguished twelve types, representing Louis XIV and five other rulers. These statuettes had a great success because of their adaptability to several rulers such as Charles XII of Sweden and William III of England (now at Windsor Castle).

The present example shows the evolution of the type: the flying cape has disappeared, the end of the horse's tail is divided into three parts, the king is crowned with laurel. It is very close to the statuette of an unknown prince which Volk dates about 1740 now in the now in the Focke Museum, Bremen.