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    Sale 1566

    Important European Furniture, Ceramics, Sculpture, Works of

    New York

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    21 October 2005

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    • A SEVRES WHITE BISCUIT ALLEGOR
    Lot 158

    A SEVRES WHITE BISCUIT ALLEGORICAL FIGURE EMBLEMATIC OF AFRICA

    CIRCA 1821, IMPRESSED SCRIPT SEVRES. MARK, INCISED MAS/11.AV (?).DS.

    Price realised

    USD 26,400

    Estimate

    USD 15,000 - USD 20,000

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    A SEVRES WHITE BISCUIT ALLEGORICAL FIGURE EMBLEMATIC OF AFRICA
    CIRCA 1821, IMPRESSED SCRIPT sevres. MARK, INCISED Mas/11.av (?).DS.
    Modelled by Louis-Simon Boizot as a scantily clad female bedecked with strings of beads and bracelets , a drape and animal pelt around her waist, a quiver of arrows on her back, seated on a rocky tree stump, her foot resting on an elephant's head, a basket below her right hand, behind her and to her side tsands a lion, supported by a cylindrical base
    14 1/8 in. (36 cm.) high

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    Lot Essay

    Cf. Emile Bourgeois, Le Biscuit de Sèvres (1909), p. 46, no. 8.

    The incised Mas the mark is that of Jean Mascaret, recorded at Sèvres as a sculptor 1806-1848.

    The present model of Africa is one from a set of four emblematic of the four corners of the World acquired by George IV of England soon after he ascended the throne in 1821. Her Majesty the Queen retains the figure of Europe. Asia and America are missing.

    The copy of the Sèvres ledger entry below [fig. 1] lists the set as the first item under a heading A S M L Roi d'Angleterre [To his Majesty the King of England] at a cost of 144 livres per figure for a total of 576 livres. Looking through the roster of his other purchases, including a biscuit group of Ganymede and Hebe, the Continents appear to be the most expensive by far. As the next entry in the ledger is the listing of sales at the annual selling exposition held at the Louvre between 26 December 1821 and 7 January 1822, the king's purchases must have been made earlier in 1821.

    Other information

    Saleroom Notice

    PROVENANCE
    King George IV of England, 1821


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