Jean-Antoine HOUDON (1741-1828), d’après. Bust... Lot 40

Jean-Antoine HOUDON (1741-1828), d’après. Bust of a black woman. Bronze with brown patina, engraved on the pedestal "RENDERED TO FREEDOM AND EQUALITY BY THE NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE 16TH PLUVIOSE OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC ONE AND INDIVISIBLE", signed under the arm "Houdon". Resting on a rectangular base in red veined marble. Beginning of the 19th century. H. 22,5 x W. 12,5 x D. 6 cm. History Originally, this bust represents a black slave whose haughty bearing seems to defy status. In Houdon's original, she wears gilded bronze earrings, known as creoles, the only jewelry then permitted to slave women in the French West Indies. Although the identity of this woman remains unknown, the inscription on the pedestal refers to her emancipation, in application of the decree of abolition of slavery of February 4, 1794 decided by the French Republic, then gathered in the National Convention. Although the model for this sculpture was made by Houdon even before this date, she has since embodied the face of a new freedom in this emblematic bronze, which is very rare on the market. This bust was in fact based on a group that adorned a fountain in the Duc d'Orléans' garden in Monceau (now Parc Monceau): a black lead maid (no longer in existence) was pouring water from a river over the body of a white marble bather (now in the collections of the MET Museum in New York, inv. 14.40.673). This group was exhibited by Houdon at the Salon of 1783. The plaster model of this bust is in the Soissons Museum. A small bronze model is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (Carle Dreyfus bequest, inv. 37261), to which the Musée Nissim de Camondo is attached and which holds a large version by Thomire, 80 cm high (inv. CAM 259). Related work Bust of a Black Woman, bronze and terracotta base, after Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), c. 1794 or later, same dimensions as our example, collection of the Met Museum, New York, inv. 2019.283.37.