Clodion, Pair of ewers in bronze with two patinas, late 19th century

After Clodion.

Pair of bronze ewers with two patinas representing bacchanalia scenes after Clodion. Circular base with gadroon piedouche decorated with beads and vine leaves friezes. Gilt bronze mount with large stylized acanthus leaves. Brown patina body adorned with bas-reliefs after Clodion portraying putti and infant-satyrs mistreating a dog and a billy goat while brandishing a stem. Above, gilt bronze vine leaves and beads frieze adorned the upper part. Spillway is decorated with waterleaves on the base, vine branches and bead and reel frieze. A winged bacchic-putto in front of a bird sitting astride on each handle is holding bunch of grapes. Vine leaves wrapped around the handle adorned with flutes, foliage and ending with a ram head topped with leaves.

Work from the late 19th century.

Dimensions : H 96 x D 45 cm.

Reference : LS14147851

Scenes may be compared to two bas-reliefs realized by Clodion for the Hôtel de Condé in 1781 upon Princess de Bourbon-Condé request. Hotel de Condé’s architect, Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, orders Clodion to realized seven bas-reliefs. They were located in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Condé enclosing circular windows. Similar models, entitled Bacchanale of infants and infant-satyres. and Goat sacrifice, realized in 1781, are exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the Louvre Museum.

Claude Michel (1738-1814), better known as Clodion, was a virtuoso sculptor in the second part of the 18th century. Recognized at the Académie Royale in 1773, Clodion abandoned the Salon for private customers of financiers and amateurs for whom he realized terracotta scale models, material that has expanded tremendously during the 18th century. The extreme fineness and the high quality of his work reflect the taste of the period for mythological scenes like embraced bacchantes and satyrs. Often linked to Rococo movement, Clodion’s production of large antique bas-reliefs it’s also a symbol of neoclassical movement appearance.

Sources :

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 25, no. 6 (February, 1967)

“French Terracottas”: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 49, no. 3 (Winter, 1991–1992)