Dancer in bird costume - Henri MOLINS (1893-1958)

A chryselephantine sculpture of a young woman dressed as a bird. She is represented standing on one leg imitating
the movement of a hen. The sculpture is mounted on a stepped pedestal in white onyx and red marble from France, hollow and with a working lighting system.
Signed in the bronze on the feathers: “Molins”.
Stamps of the founder “Patrouilleau” under the heel and on the base.
Circa 1918 - 1925.
Unique piece.

Remarks:
This work depicts “The Pheasant”, the main female character in Edmond Rostand's play Chantecler (1910). The playwright was at the height of his fame, following the success of Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) and L'Aiglon (1900). This new play impressed many with its technical resources and the number of actors on stage. A great admirer of Rostand, Henri Molins paid tribute to the playwright, who died in 1918, by depicting the character in his own distinctive way: in a dynamic, moving pose. There are several bronze proofs of our sculpture, in which only the face is in ivory: our work, which is unique, is the only one in which the arms and face are in ivory. Another exceptional feature is the base on which our dancer is standing, a cubist construction made of marble and onyx, and illuminated.