SÈVRES (hard porcelain) and after Jean-Antoine... - Lot 77 - Kâ-Mondo

SÈVRES (hard porcelain) and after Jean-Antoine HOUDON. The Count of Tourville, standing, holding a sword and a map Porcelain biscuit proof. Embossed mark LR 19 on the terrace. White marble base decorated on the sides with the bows of fleurdelysed ships accompanied by bronze mermaids with a brown patina. In the centre of a cockerel head shield, the figure JV in a finely chased and gilded bronze laurel wreath flanked by maritime attributes. Shells and corals adorn the corners of the base, which is supported by small feet with gilt bronze patinas. Late 18th century. 49×21×23 cm. D. Glass display case: 70×46×38 cm. Cracks, restored sword, small marble splinters, three small flattened ball feet detached, missing a cloth cord. Anne-Hilarion de Cotentin, Count of Tourville (1642-1701), Vice-Admiral and Marshal of France, is shown here in 17th-century costume standing before a drapery, sword in her right hand, holding a map in her left. Commissioned by King Louis XVI and paid 10,000 pounds, the sculpture in Houdon marble, now kept in the Château de Versailles, is exhibited in the Salon of 1781 (number 251 in the catalogue). Houdon received payment on February 2, 1785 for the small terracotta he delivered to the Sèvres manufactory (Arch. MNS Vf 34, f° 25, still kept at the MNS manufactory inv. 23450). The mark LR incised in the paste corresponds to that of Josse-François-Joseph Le Riche, modeler from 1757 to 1780 and then chief sculptor at the Sèvres manufactory from 1780 to 1801. An identical subject was auctioned in Paris on October 16, 2007 (Sotheby's, lot 105). Provenance: collection of the Marquis de Lagoy, by descent.