Lot 856: A BRONZE GROUP OF ADONIS RESTING AFTER THE HUNT

A BRONZE GROUP OF ADONIS RESTING AFTER THE HUNT
AFTER A MODEL BY NICOLAS COUSTOU (1658-1733), FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY
Depicted seated on a tree stump and with a dog by his right side; on an integrally cast naturalistic base; medium brown patina with brassy high points; with a paper label to the underside inscribed 'Cat. No 45b Coll. Mr. D. Daniels, N.Y.'; on a modern ormolu-mounted ebonised oval wood base
13¾ in. (35 cm.) high; 17 in. (43 cm.) overall

New York, M. Knoedler & Co., The French Bronze 1500-1800, 6 - 27 Nov. 1968, no. 45B.

New York, Knoedler & Co., The French Bronze 1500-1800, 6 - 27 Nov. 1968, no. 45A-B.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries - The Reign of Louis XIV, Oxford, 1977, I. no. 52, pp. 168-169.
F. Souchal, Les Feres Coustou - Nicolas (1658-1733) - Guillaume (1677-1746), Paris, 1980.
J -R. Gaborit, Sculpture Française II - Renaissance et Temps Modernes, Paris, 1998, I, p. 166.

David Daniels Collection, New York.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
The bronze Adonis offered here is a reduced version of Nicolas Coustou's signed and dated marble executed in 1710 for the gardens of the Chateau of Marly and now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The method of casting, patination and surface finish all point to a casting date sometime in the first half of the 18th century.

Although Coustou was a prolific sculptor working for the Batiments du Roi, as well as private patrons, his greatest attention was dedicated to the park of the Chateau of Marly. As well as the numerous decorative carvings Coustou executed for these gardens he also carved the great marble group of The Seine and the Marne (now in the Jardins des Tuileries, Paris), two marble groups of Meleager Slaying a Stag and Meleager Slaying a Boar (in situ), the seated Adonis upon which the present bronze is based, and two further marble figures of Nymphs (Musée du Louvre, Paris). All these works for Marly had central to their theme a bucolic charm that was intended to epitomise the informal spirit of the park.