This is a mid-nineteenth century example of the famous figure of the poet Jean de La Fontaine which was modelled as part of the series of the great men of France produced at the time of Louis XVI at the instigation of his arts minister the comte d'Angiviller.

The sculptor Pierre Julien was commissioned to produce La Fontaine in 1782.

The artist has chosen to represent the poet in a famous episode of his life, when he was seen one morning by the duchesse de Bouillon seated against a tree trunk meditating. When she came back past the same spot in the evening he was still there in exactly the same position. Julien has portrayed him in an ample cloak, with a gnarled tree on which a vine with grapes is climbing, holding a sheet of paper with the words engraved: Le renard et les raisins. Even the fox seated on the poet's hat looking enquiringly up at him does not seem to disturb him, but then, he is probably part of La Fontaine's meditative state. Around the base of the sculpture are low-relief scenes from some of his best-known Fables.

The plaster was shown at the Salon in 1783 and the lifesize marble at the 1785 Salon. A contemporary commentary confirms that this sculpture was considered to be extremely successful:

…le sculpteur a su faire passer sur son visage la physionomie de son âme, et l'abandon de la composition dans ce grand poète est parfaitement exprimée…le renard le regarde et semble s'étonner de la simplicité de celui qui l'a si bien peint et mis si finement en scène.

The biscuit porcelain version dates from 1784, with the first example sold to Louis XVI early in 1785. Fourteen were sold between 1785 and 1789. We know of two eighteenth-century examples today, one in the Louvre, and another in the museum at Le Puy-en-Velay, Julien's birthplace. An 1859 example is at Fontainebleau.

Normally we would not buy a biscuit figure that is such a late version of an eighteenth-century model. But in this case we were convinced by the rarity and quality of the model, as well as the quality of this example. It may never be possible to get an eighteenth-century or an Empire one.

Height 40 cm, maximum width about 35 cm.

Impressed mark SEVRES within a line surround.

Right foot off and restuck. Pen partly remade.

Stock Ref: WS 247

Price: £5,600