Metalware

1 6 Introduction to Bronzes

with Price Guide By Chris Murray

Antoine Louis Barye (1795- 1875), French bronze Eléphant ronzes generally appeal to a comparatively small and knowledgeable du Sénégal (Running Elephant), Bgroup of buyers, and on the whole avoid the sometimes dramatic fluctua- oval base, signed Barye with bronze, ivory and tions seen in other areas of the art market. They have weathered the recent uncer- gold FB plaque, Barbedienne enamel figure, by Gerda Iro tainties comparatively well and remain a solid investment. foundary inscription and Gerdago, ‘Exotic Dancer’. Bronzes are usually catalogued independently of ‘art’ painting and graphic incised no.9 to underside, 5.5 x Cotswold Auction Company, works, even . This is largely because bronzes range from high art 7.75in. Gorringes, Lewes. Dec Cheltenham. Mar 08. HP: (Henry Moore bronzes in an edition of only 4) to works that have little artistic 06. HP: £6,000. ABP: £7,057. £6,000. ABP: £7,057. merit and are produced in thousands. In other words they are multiples. But then so are prints. The key to buying bronzes is to acquire the skill of identifying where a specific bronze stands on this continuum - the ‘same’ bronze may occur at several points, according to its edition, so novices need to be careful. 2 Several things determine value. First, of course, the artist. With anonymous works or those by lesser artists, period and school are important; because of the unparalleled achievement of French bronzes during the nineteenth century, the Bronze figure of a bull cast 7 after a model by Rosa designation ‘French’ nearly always adds value - as does ‘Art Deco.’ Bonheur, standing with raised Rarity is also important: early casting in a long series are far more sought after tail, brown/green patination, than later ones, and some bronzes are limited editions. With good quality works, moulded rounded oblong base the founder is significant, so a (good) founder’s mark is always welcome. signed Rosa B and stamped Condition next, and here the patina is all important; apart from any aesthetic Peyrol, 11in wide. Andrew Art Deco bronze/ivory figure value, the patina can be important in establishing age and authenticity. The by , female Hartley, Ilkley. Aug 05. HP: removal of the patina through thoughtless cleaning is usually disastrous. Finally, £850. ABP: £999. dancer wearing gold/silvered tunic matching headband, tri- as in any art form, the subject. 3 form red marble base, 15.5in Bronzes became popular during the Renaissance, when gentlemen wanted high, signed ‘F. Preiss’. smallish works for the library, study or cabinet of curiosities. Something that Hartleys, Ilkley. Feb 08. HP: conveyed an air of classical learning and culture: original works from antiquity £12,800. ABP: £15,056. were very rare but bronzes of Greek and Roman mythology and history were affordable. As many of these were nude or scantily-clad figures, male and female, they also provided an erotic frisson, heterosexual and homosexual, a fact that is far from incidental in the history of bronzes. Classical subjects in a Early 20thC bronze tiger, on classical style dominated the production of bronzes for centuries. rectangular base, indistinctly Important changes came in during the nineteenth century, largely signed, possibly Gilbert, 3in. through the emergence of animaliers - sculptors specialising in animals. Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. Romanticism was the dominant sensibility and the animals were shown wild and HP: £160. ABP: £188. dangerous. Hefty bulls, rearing horses, big cats about to pounce - panthers, 8 whose sleek and tensed musculature could be captured so well in bronze, became, and still are, very popular. (it’s here that we find the origins of the mascot on the Jaguar cars). Bronze was well suited to Romanticism, for in 4 modelling the malleable and impressionable wax, plaster or clay that forms the first stage in the creation of a bronze, it’s easy for the sculptor to fashion expressive textures and forms. Vincenzo Lerace, fl. 1880, boy Chiparus bronze Starfish Girl, The leading French animalier was Antoine Louis Barye. 1 is an unusual pulling a pig by its tail, bronze, ivory face and hands, marble subject for him, but is typical in its extraordinary sense of movement and vitality signed twice and numbered and onyx base, signed, 14.75in 882, 19cm long Sworders, and also in its close observation. Rosa Bonheur was also very important. (2) high overall. (hands re-affixed These two results make the point that the distance from the ‘original’ is always Stansted Mountfitchet. Feb 05. wrong way round and 3 finger HP: £550. ABP: £646. tips chipped) Gorringes, critical; earlier editions of both would be more expensive. There are now Lewes. Sep 02. HP: £11,800. countless big cats, so they are often good value for beginners. (3) 5 ABP: £13,879. Realism was also a feature of nineteenth-century bronzes: often of peasants or workers, they are meant to convey the dignity of labour, or occasionally the tragedy of poverty; those with a humorous touch appealed to a wider market. (4) In the world of high art - again in France - artists such as Rodin and Matisse gave a new vitality to the human figure, as can be seen in many late nineteenth and early twentieth-century bronzes. During the same period American sculptors discovered a theme of their own: put bluntly, ‘cowboys and indians.’ Of particular importance were Frederic Remington (5) and Walter Winnans. 9 Perhaps the most recognisable changes in the character of bronzes were Bronze of The Wicked Pony, brought about by Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Here again it was both the process bucking bronco unseating a of modelling (which allowed thin, sinuous forms and fine details to be created) cowboy, after the American Gilt bronze table lamp of ‘The sculptor Frederic Remington, Scarf Dancer’ by Agathon and also the structural properties of the metal that made bronze an ideal medium No. 6/125, 52cm high. Stride & Leonard, late 19thC French - the characteristic dancing figures supported by one foot (6) would not be Son, Chichester. Oct 03. HP: sculptor, 30cm high. Stride & possible in stone or wood. Among the best-known bronze sculptors in this area £4,000. ABP: £4,705. Son, Chichester. Aug 07. HP: are Ferdinand Preiss, (7) Demetre H. Chiparus (8), and Claire Jeanne Roberte £3,600. ABP: £4,234. ANTIQUES INFO - May/June 10 Metalware Colinet; their elaborate works fetch thousands. As these example shows, Art Deco often combined 10 bronze with other materials to create luxurious effects, notably ivory of head and hands, and 19 polished and striated marbles or milky onyx for bases. The Art Nouveau figure (9) also illustrates 14 the sometimes practical role of bronzes: in this Georges Lavroff (1895-?) case a lamp base. Animals were also stylised, as Russian, silvered bronze James Osborne, bronze figure we can see in the extraordinary borzoi (10) by the model of a borzoi, slate base, of a running greyhound, oval Russian Georges Lavroff. 11 shows that works in no.8939, signed 18in. Early 20thC bronze female naturalistic base 30in, the Art Deco style (which was long out of favour Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 07. torso by Onslow Ford, signed reputedly ‘Bally Regan Bob’. HP: £1,500. ABP: £1,764. precisely because it had been so popular) are not on base, green marble base, Denhams, Warnham, Sussex. Jan 06. HP: £220. ABP: £258. necessarily very expensive. 15.5in. Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 04. HP: £9,600. ABP: £11,292. Other styles have influenced bronzes, such as Cubism in 12, which delights in the heavy solidity of the metal - a striking contrast with Art Nouveau figures. And in many sculptors 15 developed an altogether more chaste, classical style (13) that looks back to late medieval German 20 sculpture rather than antiquity. Interestingly, this German influence can be seen 11 in a nineteenth-century British sculptor Edward Onslow Ford 14, who studied in Munich, and who Sir Jacob Epstein, Eve Deruich, bronze, sculpted in had a considerable influence on young British James Osborne (1940-1992) 1919, 46cm high. Eve Deruich bronze group ‘Trapeze’, 1982, sculptors around the turn of the century. A major was a model who died shortly marble plinth, 25.5in. Art deco bronze figure by figure in the British school was the (American- after this work was executed. Gorringes, Lewes. Nov 05. Fayral, France, modelled as born) sculptor Jacob Epstein, who created a wide Henry Adams, Chichester. Jan HP: £480. ABP: £564. range of expressive portraits (15) as well as his an exotic dancer holding a 03. HP: £7,000. ABP: £8,233. better-known public pieces. Even works in his pose, signed to base, sits upon lozenge shaped black figured 16 style can fetch reasonable prices. (16) Though of marble base 38cm high. uncertain origin, this work is typical of the Rosebery’s, London. Sep 04. archaism sometimes found in Epstein and others: HP: £390. ABP: £458. simplified forms, rough textures and a verdigris patination - it looks like an ancient work recently 12 lifted from the sea. 21 Another important British sculptor from the first Circle of Jacob Epstein, 1880- half of the twentieth century was Glyn Philpot, a 1959, bronze bust of a young fascinating figure who emerged from Edwardian female, 3/4 length. verdi gris Denis Mitchell (1912-1933), aestheticism to become, late in his career, a patination. 50cm high. ‘Gorran’, abstract bronze, leading and controversial Modernist. He made Rosebery’s, London. Dec 05. HP: £1,100. ABP: £1,293. light gold patina, underside of highly original works on two subjects unusual in the base inscribed and his day: spirituality (he converted to Catholicism) 17 numbered ‘GORRAN No. 6’, and black men - both themes strongly marked by 16in excluding base. his homosexuality. He did few and they Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. are sought after, so 17 was a real bargain. Wilhelm Wauer (1866-1962) a HP: £2,700. ABP: £3,175. Coming much closer to our own time, the Irish bronze figure of a standing sculptor James Osborne continued the animalier woman incised W.W. 18in. tradition with striking images of race horses and Gorringes, Lewes. Apr 08. HP: £2,100. ABP: £2,470. greyhounds always full of movement and energy. The sleekness, sheen and stylization of 18 are Glyn Philpot (1884-1937) reminiscent of Art Nouveau, while 19 is earthier, 13 bronze mask, Negro Fine Art the frozen movement expressive (and accurate for 22 Society edition no 6 of 8 after those who know dog racing) but inelegant. This the 1923 original, on marble may explain the low price. Osborne was often plinth, overall 17in. highly original in his others subject, as in 20, Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 06. another bargain. HP: £1,900. ABP: £2,234. Robert Adams, ‘Centurion Denis Mitchell - who died in 1993, not 1933 - 1982’ bronze, part gilded, 18 limited edition 8/9, signed to was a leading abstract sculptor who sometimes base, 10.125in high. Hartleys, worked in bronze, clearly attracted to the clean, Ilkley. Dec 08. HP: £1,250. precise, almost machine-like forms he could ABP: £1,470. create with it. (21) He was for many years Barbara Hepworth’s chief assistant. Robert Adams was also a leading abstract artist in bronze. The Early 20thC German bronze James Osborne, (1940-1992), price of this ten-inch piece, number 8 of a limited figure of a Diana, standing bronze, racing greyhound, ‘Ballyregan Bob’, in full series of 9, shows that original art in bronze by beside a deer, signed M. Bechtold, oval base and pink stride, oval granite base, No leading sculptors can be affordable and great marble plinth, 24in. 6/10, signed and dated 1988. value. (22) Price Guide on pp46-47.... Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. Gorringes, Lewes. Jul 06. HP: HP: £1,100. ABP: £1,293. £1,600. ABP: £1,882.

ANTIQUES INFO - May/June 10 Metalware

42 33 23 Chinese parcel gilt bronze 38 censer, decorated with panels of children in a continuous 28 landscape, 12.5in. Unusual Chinese bronze koro Gorringes, Lewes. Dec 09. Pair of early 20thC French and cover, gem encrusted HP: £23,000. ABP: £27,053. bronze male runners, after the antique, rectangular decoration, twin elephant Mid 19thC French bronze bases, signed, 18in. handles, tripod elephant Joseph Lorenzl, large green figure of Perseus, holding the Gorringes, Lewes. Jul 09. head base, and a recumbent patinated bronze figure of a slain head of Medusa, HP: £1,300. ABP: £1,529. elephant finial, signed, 10.5in. 24 nude female dancer, hexa- unsigned, 20in. Gorringes, Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. gonal onyx column, angled Lewes. Feb 10. HP: £1,900. HP: £1,100. ABP: £1,293. Frederick Charles Focht base, signed Lorenzl, 26in. ABP: £2,234. (1879-?) bronze sculpture of Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. 34 a woman flying in a rocket, HP: £3,200. ABP: £3,764. black slate base, signed Fred C.Focht, 15in high, 31in 39 long. Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 09. HP: £6,400. ABP: £7,528. 29 43 Early 20thC Chinese bronze Pair mid 19thC cast bronze open censer, twin handles, Achille d’ Orsia, (Naples classical twin handled vases, Matthew Noble (1818-1876), sides with panels of symbols, 1845-1929), Boy Clamming, with classical figures and bronze oval plaque depicting mask head turned legs, on a bronze figure as a nude boy acanthus leaves, 13.5in. ‘The Dream of Eugene Aram’, detachable stand, bracket 25 crouching, his hand in a Gorringes, Lewes. Feb 10. based on poem by Thomas feet, 9 x 7 x 13in. Diamond wicker pot, rocky base, HP: £2,600. ABP: £3,058. Hood, in high relief with a Mills & Co, Felixstowe. Nov Italian bronze model of a signed, and inscribed with gentleman seated by a tree 09. HP: £1,100. ABP: £1,293. rearing horse from circle of the Churazzi Foundry stamp with children behind, signed Francesco Fanelli. Addisons, (Naples), marmo verde M. Noble Sc, 29.5in. Barnard Castle. Sep 09. HP: antieo platform, 14.25in Gorringes, Lewes. Feb 09. £5,000. ABP: £5,881. high. Hartleys, Ilkley. Mar 09. 30 HP: £1,400. ABP: £1,646. HP: £1,250. ABP: £1,470.

35 The prices quoted are actual Japanese bronze group, The Hammer Prices (HP) Golden Boy, wrestling with a followed by the Approximate bear, signed, 26.5cm high. Buyer’s Price (ABP) which 44 Charterhouse, Sherborne. Feb includes an average buyer’s premium of 15% + VAT. 26 10. HP: £2,600. ABP: £3,058. Continental School (Possibly 31 early 18thC Venetian), Apollo, bronze figure standing with 19thC French bronze figure one arm raised, unsigned, Jacques Louis Gautier b.1831, of Apollo, with foundry mark dark brown patination, pair bronze figures, Mephist- and stamped F.Barbedienne, yellow marble plinth, 19in opheles & Macbeth, demon 18in. Gorringes, Lewes. Dec high. Hartleys, Ilkley. Mar 09. with one hoof & legs crossed, 09. HP: £1,400. ABP: £1,646. 40 HP: £1,000. ABP: £1,176. Macbeth as one of the witches with her broom, 36 tapered bases with Duplan et Salles foundry Mark, 27.25in. Ferdinand Victor Blundstone (1888- Gorringes, Lewes. Jul 09. (1882-1951), bronze figure of 1950). An Art Deco gold 45 HP: £3,800. ABP: £4,469. Diana, with gazelle & fawn, patinated bronze figure ‘A Jean Garnier (1853-1910), marble base, signed, 16.5in. Dancer’, stained marble pair of Art Nouveau two Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. plinth, signed, 11in, a.f. handled bronze vases, asym- HP: £2,200. ABP: £2,587. Gorringes, Lewes. Feb 09. HP: £1,200. ABP: £1,411. metrical form and cast with nymphs and floral handles, After the antique, 19thC brass liners, signed, 13in. bronze model of an athlete, Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 09. 41 rectangular base, 19.5in. HP: £1,000. ABP: £1,176. 27 Gorringes, Lewes. Dec 09. HP: £1,400. ABP: £1,646. 37

Enzo Plazzotta (1921-1981), 32 large bronze figure, Jane II, Mane Katz (Russian, French 46 c1978, modelled leaning 1894-1962) bronze, Head of against a rail, circular base, Late 16thC Italian cast a rabbi, signed, numbered later wooden plinth, No. 6/12 Emile Louis Picault (1833- L Richy, two bronze deer, on bronze mortar, small propor- 9/12 with Modern Art Fdry, and with Mariani foundry 1915), large bronze figure of a rectangular marble base, tions, decorated with bands N.Y stamp, 19in. Gorringes, mark to reverse, 35in. a blacksmith ‘Labor’, signed, 67cm wide. Charterhouse of shells and leaves, 2.75in. Lewes. Feb 10. HP: £1,200. Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. 29in. Gorringes, Lewes. Dec Auctioneers, Sherborne. Jan Gorringes, Lewes. May 09. ABP: £1,411. HP: £3,600. ABP: £4,234. 09. HP: £2,000. ABP: £2,352. 10. HP: £1,400. ABP: £1,646. HP: £1,000. ABP: £1,176. ANTIQUES INFO - May/June 10 Metalware

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47 57 Kathleen Scott (Lady Kennett) R.B.A. (1878-1947), Alfred Jacquemart (1824- Child in hand, bronze figure After Gechter, T, 19thC, gilt Bronze water feature, nude 1896), bronze group of a signed ‘K Scott’, dark green/ bronze equestrian figure young female kneeling with bloodhound looking at a Butler, James (R.A) (1931), black patination, 8.5in wide, group, Louis XI being saved her head down holding a tortoise, signed, 6in. The Burton Cooper, bronze 4in high. Hartleys, Ilkley. Mar by his huntsman Quentin ewer, on rustic oval base, Gorringes, Lewes. Feb 09. sculpture, No.59/250, titled, 09. HP: £950. ABP: £1,117. Durward, inspired by writings unsigned, 20thC, 23in high x HP: £600. ABP: £705. signed, dated (19)77, marble of Sir Walter Scott, titled on 21in wide. Dee, Atkinson & plinth, certificate, bronze plinth, 50cm high, 47cm 23cm. Richard Winterton, 48 Harrison, Driffield. Apr 09. wide. (minor losses) Richard HP: £680. ABP: £799. Burton on Trent. Mar 09. Winterton, Burton on Trent. 63 HP: £560. ABP: £658. Mar 09. HP: £800. ABP: £941. 58 53

Pair Japanese Meiji bronze miniature baluster vases, Bartelemy Frison (French with overlaid gilt cartouche 1816-1877), The Marble Player, bronze figure of a panels of landscapes/foliage 68 on a textured geometric Dejalieano, late 19thC bronze kneeling boy, signed on the ground, both signed, height horse and jockey steeple- base below his right leg, oval chasing group, oval base, base, dark brown patination, 11cm. (2) Richard Winterton After Michael Rizzello, signed to front, 16 x 23.5in. 9in high. Hartleys, Ilkley. Mar Auctioneers, Lichfield. Jul maquette of David Lloyd 09. HP: £950. ABP: £1,117. Gorringes, Lewes. Dec 09. 09. HP: £600. ABP: £705. HP: £800. ABP: £941. Paul Schmidt Felling, German George, 85cm high, bronze 1835-1920), Awaiting Orders, 64 sculpture. Charterhouse 54 bronze male figure, signed, Auctioneers, Sherborne. Aug bronze guarantee stamp on 09. HP: £550. ABP: £646. rear, green marble base, rich brown patination, 17in to top 49 of spear. Hartleys, Ilkley. Mar 09. HP: £650. ABP: £764.

59 Late 19thC bronze group of a Napoleonic cavalryman on 69 From workshop of Giuseppe horseback, unsigned, 15in, Boschi (Italian fl.1783-1824), sword deficient. Gorringes, Late 19thC Bergman cold bronze figure, of Perseus, Lewes. Oct 09. HP: £600. Late 1930s French bronze After the antique, Italian painted bronze figure of an dark black-brown patina, ABP: £705. twin handled bucket, female bronze figure of Narcissus, Arab boy, stamped Geschützt inscribed: G.BOSCHI F., mask mounts and decorated standing upon circular socle and No. 3063, 8in. 17in., sword blade & left arm 65 with birds, beasts and foliate with verdigris patination, Gorringes, Lewes. Feb 10. missing. Gorringes, Lewes. motifs, 14in. Gorringes, 25in. Gorringes, Lewes. Feb HP: £900. ABP: £1,058. May 09. HP: £750. ABP: £882. Lewes. Sep 09. HP: £650. 09. HP: £550. ABP: £646. ABP: £764. 55 70 50

Louis Richè (1877-1944), 60 Louis Riche (1877-1949), large French bronze group of French bronze group of two Jules Moigniez (1835-1894), 19thC Chinese bronze koro, Karl Bergman bronze figure, two panthers, oval base and German Shepherd dogs, bronze model of a Pointer, on open form with shi shi mask an elephant standing on his veined marble plinth, signed marble base, signed Riche oval base, signed, 12in. handles, low relief decoration hind legs blowing a trumpet, L. Richè Mèdaille d’Or, Medaille d’or du salon, Gorringes, Lewes. Feb 10. of shi shi and phoenix, four marble plinth, 19cm high. R.Patpouilleau-Editeur, 29.5in. Gorringes, Lewes. Mar HP: £900. ABP: £1,058. character mark, 2.75in. Charterhouse, Sherborne. Feb 20.5in. Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 09. HP: £500. ABP: £588. Gorringes, Lewes. Oct 09. 09. HP: £580. ABP: £682. 09. HP: £700. ABP: £823. HP: £650. ABP: £764. 66 71

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56 After Guillaime Cousteau Bergman cold painted bronze Pair of late 19thC French Jef Lambeaux, (Belgian (1677-1746) pair of bronze figure, Arab trader, standing bronzes, Hamlet & Ophelia, 1852-1908), Pan, bronze bust, Marly horses of typical form barefoot on lion skin, holding named circular bases and green patination, signed ‘Jef with attendants, rustic base, antelope head in his hand, wooden stands, signed Lambeaux Van Antwerpen’, Bronzed figure of a boy, with signed, dark brown patin- 5in high, 6.25in long, cast Baillieu & Pepe, 19.5in. 21.25in high. Hartleys, Ilkley. dead game, 21cm high. ation, 18in high. Hartleys, foundry mark on robe & base. Gorringes, Lewes. Jul 09. Mar 09. HP: £680. ABP: £799. Charterhouse, Sherborne. Jul Ilkley. Jun 09. HP: £560. Hartleys, Ilkley. Sep 09. HP: HP: £850. ABP: £999. 09. HP: £620. ABP: £729. ABP: £658. £500. ABP: £588. ANTIQUES INFO - May/June 10