European Art & Old Masters (1596) January 23, 2018 EDT Lot 50 Estimate: $5000 - $8000 (plus Buyer's Premium) MANNER OF CLAUDE MICHEL CLODION (FRENCH 1738- 1814) "BACCHANT, BACCHANTE ET PETIT SATYRE" Signed and dated 'Clodion 1765' on barrel, Roman terracotta Height (including base): 16 1/4 in. (41.3cm) Width: 10 1/2 in. (26.7cm) Provenance: Collection of M. Barbedienne, Paris. Paris, sale of June 1882, lot 504. Collection of M. Beurdeley The Elder, Paris. Paris, sale of April 22-25, 1883, lot 282 (illustrated). Sotheby's, New York, sale of May 31, 1990, lot 158. Acquired directly from the above. Property from the Daniel W. Dietrich Foundation. LITERATURE: Henri Thirion, Les Adam et Clodion, A. Quantin, Paris, 1885, p. 196 (illustrated). Guilhem Scherf, "Autour de Clodion: Variations, Répétitions, Imitations," Revue de l'Art. no. 1, vol. 91, 1991, p. 47-59, note 50. Anne Poulet and Guilhem Scherf, Clodion 1738-1814, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1992, p. 32-33, note 103. NOTE: Throughout his career, Clodion created small terracotta sculptures of bacchanalian subjects. His best works were completed in 1780-1790 - sculptures that he is best known for today. The present lot can be compared to similar terracotta sculptures including: "The Satyr with two Bacchantes and a Baby Satyr," now at the Frick Collection in New York, and "The Drunken Satyr with Two Bacchantes and a Baby Satyr" at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. All three works were undocumented until 1840, and share the same characteristics: they are very complex and revolve around a dense center, with the figures projecting toward the exterior of the sculpture. According to Anne L.Poulet, previous Curator of European Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and Guilhem Scherf, Curator of Sculptures at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, both writers of the Clodion Exhibition Catalogue in 1991, these sculptures may have been produced around 1840, most likely under the supervision of French metal worker Ferdinand Barbedienne, who produced bronze versions of the group until 1900, and executed by an artist who was very well aware of the Bacchanalian subjects Clodion executed in 1780-1790. Other versions of the present group are said to have appeared at auction in Paris; one terracotta belonging to Baron Roger was sold in Paris in December 1881 as Lot no. 201 (it incorporated a flute, which does not appear in the present lot). The present version belonged to M. Barbedienne and was sold in June 1882. It is now considered to be the same terracotta that belonged to M. Beurdeley Père, before it was sold in April 1883. It is illustrated p. 196 in Thirion's aforementioned book..