Ecole française

This in the round work, formerly attributed to Pajou, is a very singular work in terms of its material and temporal eclecticism. A marble bust representing the Dauphine, Marie-Antoinette, (before 1774), sits atop a fluted gilded wood plinth on which are medallion profile portraits. Among them that of Henri IV stands out, in Sèvres porcelain on a celestial blue background (a similar medallion from 1815 by Brachard is held by the V&A in London). This sculpture of medium proportions is probably a composite work of which certain elements date from the last few years of the 18th century (marble bust) and others from the 19th century (porcelain medallion and gilded wood plinth). An obvious lineage is established between the first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty, Henri IV, and its last female representative in the person of Marie-Antoinette. Produced for commemorative purposes, the work may have been composed during the Second Empire, a period of memorial rehabilitation for the late Queen. This bust echoes tastes during the reign of Louis XVI through the elegance and sobriety of the marble portrait in an echo of the sculpted portraits of Boizot, and the ornamentation of the floral elements in a garland on the pedestal.