Lot 447: A FRENCH BRONZE FIGURE OF AMPHITRITE

A FRENCH BRONZE FIGURE OF AMPHITRITE
LATE 19TH CENTURY, AFTER MICHEL ANGUIER (1612-1686)
Depicted holding a crayfish in her left hand and a length of drapery in her right, with a dolphin by her feet, on a gilt-bronze mounted Siena marble plinth
The bronze - 20½ in. (52 cm.) high; 28 in. (71 cm.) high overall

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.
It is recorded by Guillet de Saint-Georges in a biography of 1690 that Anguier created a series of bronze statuettes of gods and goddesses in 1652. The Amphitrite was to prove the most celebrated. In 1654, Anguier was commissioned by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's Finance Minister, to carve fourteen life-size figures in limestone, including the Amphitrite. A marble version was made by Mass for the gardens at Versailles, and bronzes of various sizes, often paired with male gods, are known. Of the series of fourteen, four have survived; the life-size Amphitrite is today in the Institute of Art in Toledo.