Offered by Tobogan Antiques
Signed E. LAURENT and Raingo Fres and numbered 375 and 321 on the base
Charming pair of gilded bronze sculptures representing a Japanese couple in traditional clothing. The man plays the flute for his birds outside their pagoda-shaped cage resting on a table with lambrequins decorated with wading birds. The woman, holding flowers in her left hand, performs the tea ceremony by pouring water into a bowl placed on a base decorated with a rotating dragon.
They rest on square bases imitating a matted floor, ending in four stylized scrolling feet.
A particular attention was paid to the characters’ clothing and accessories, demonstrating the sculptor’s talent and attention to detail.
Biography :
Eugène Laurent (1832-1898), French sculptor, studied sculpture under the direction of Théodore Coinchon (1814-1881). Participating for the first time in the Salon of French Artists in 1861, then exhibiting there regularly, he quickly acquired a good reputation as a classical sculptor. He became known for his classic subjects, his bust portraits of celebrities and was chosen to create public monuments, such as his Jacques Callot in Nancy, and his François Boucher, exhibited at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris.
The company Raingo Frères, founded in Paris in 1813, installed their workshops around 1830 at n°8 Touraine Street, then at n°102 Vieille-du-Temple Street. The four Raingo brothers first known as clockmakers, added to their 1841 sale catalog some art bronze works as well as decorative bronze pieces. In 1860, they supplied the palaces of the Emperor Napoleon III. First specialized in Antique statues reproductions, they cast then models sculpted by contemporary artists such James Pradier (1790-1852), Albert Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) et Auguste Moreau (1834-1917).
