A FRENCH BRONZE FIGURAL TORCHERE

The present bronze is after the model first exhibited in plaster at the 1847 Salon (no 2161) titled Un esclave indien portant une torche alongside its pendant female figure. Also exhibited in bronze in 1850, a pair were commissioned by the French state on 23 February that year for the Ministre de l'Intérieur at the Elysée Palace. The present reduction by the fondeur Ferdinand Barbedienne (d. 1892) is listed individually as L'esclave indien in his 1886 catalogue and priced at 1,250 francs.