Terracotta. inscribed "A. Carrier Belleuse". 32.5 x 34.5 x 18 cm. 4.85 kg.

On an oval plinth a reclining, unclothed woman. With her right arm she is leaning on a basket of fruit and holding a chalice, while with her other hand she joyfully reaches for a boy faun that has found a place on her thigh. Slight signs of age and wear.

If this is Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, then: French sculptor and draughtsman (1824 Anizy-le-Château -1887 Sèvres), studied from 1840 under Pierre Jean David d'Angers at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, from the 1850s he executed marble works, bronze sculptures and terracotta busts, he was called the "Clodion of the Second Empire" (Claude Michel Clodion, 1738-1814), in 1864 he became friends with the young sculptor Auguste Rodin, and from 1875 to 1887 he was artistic director and head of the studio of the Manufacture royale de porcelaine de Sèvres in Sévres.

Provenance : Museum estate of Peter Kaus.