Albert-Ernest CARRIER DE BELLEUSE (1824-1887), Prządka

Gilded and silver-plated bronze; bone; marble; height 51.2 cm; width 20 cm; depth 15 cm.
France, 3rd third of the 19th century.
Graceful, standing figure of a woman in medieval costume: bonnet over loose hair, tight golden robe with a pattern of Bourbon lilies and a folded cloak; in the right hand - a quaver, in the left hand - a spindle. Face and hands carved in bone.
Pedestal turned in red marble, profiled.
Signature on the edge of the base: "A. CARRIER - BELLEUSE".
The artist, who is held in high esteem, began his career as a ... goldsmith. In his sculptural work, he drew on mythological themes and made busts of famous figures; his monumental designs are known, among others, the monument to Marshal André Massény in Nice and the equestrian statue of Michael Viteazul in Bucharest. The sculptor's works were executed in bronze, marble, terracotta and chryselephantine. His biography notes that he was a co-founder of the Societé National des Beaux-Arts, as well as artistic director of a porcelain manufactory in Sevres. In the atelier of Albert Carrier de Belleuse - as his assistant - worked between 1864 and 1870 - the young Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).