Circle of Claude Michel, called Clodion (1738 - 1814)

[Possibly] Anonymous sale, Paris, 9 November 1812, lot 129 “Bacchante accompagnée de deux enfants dont un sur ses genoux frappe sur un tambour de basque”;

Private collection, United Kingdom

This beautifully modelled terracotta group representing a satyress with two infant satyrs follows a model that has traditionally been associated with Clodion. See, for example, the version sold at Parke Bernet on 10 December 1966 (lot 41), which was subsequently sold in these rooms on 20 April 1989 (lot 179) and described as 'after Clodion'. The model recalls two terracotta groups in the Musée du Louvre (on loan from the Musée national de la Renaissance, Château d'Ecouen) which are both signed by Clodion and dated 1783 but have variously been described as 'after' and attributed to the sculptor (inv. nos. CL 12534 A and B).

The present terracotta exhibits a freshness of modelling which indicates that it may date to Clodion's lifetime and is not a mere copy after the sculptor. Interestingly, a terracotta group of a “Bacchante accompagnée de deux enfants dont un sur ses genoux frappe sur un tambour de basque” (Bacchante accompanied by two children, one on her lap, playing a tambourin) was sold in Paris, anonymous sale, 9 November 1812, lot 129. The terms bacchante and satyress were often confused in 18th- and 19th-century sale catalogues. Given the closeness of the 1812 description to the present group, it should be considered that the present terracotta is a candidate for being that described in 1812.