JEAN-FRANCOIS-JOSEPH ROSSET (1706-1786) Lot n° 85

PAIR OF SMALL IVORY BUSTS HENRI IV AND THE DUKE OF SULLY FRANCE, SAINT CLAUDE, JURA - 1771 Ivory, boxwood, alabaster, black marble Signed Rosset Père in Saint Claude and dated 1771 H. 22 cm, L. 9 cm These two busts represent two legendary heroes of French history, Henri IV, King of France and Navarre (1589-1610) and his minister Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully (1559-1641). Each is clad in armour and a cloak around the shoulders, they wear a strawberry which is characteristic of late 16th century fashion; the king wears the Cross of the Order of the Holy Spirit, and Sully wears the medal bearing the effigy of Henry IV. The clothing and physical details are meticulously rendered. The king, with his long, flowery beard and curly moustache, looks younger than his minister, who is six years his junior, bald and with a thinner beard. Jean-François-Joseph Rosset (1706-1786) "There is no one who knows how to give life to a bust like the sculptor of Franche-Comté" wrote King Frederick II about Jean-François-Joseph Rosset. Born into a family of Jura sculptors, craftsmen who made small religious objects in boxwood, alabaster or ivory, Rosset owes his fame to Voltaire's interest in him, who lived in the Château de Ferney. In the obituary dedicated to him in the Journal de Paris dated January 4, 1787, the Marquis de Villette (1736-1793) wrote: "M. Rosset made the first busts of Voltaire, who until then, had not consented to lend his face. Subjugated by the bonhomie of this artist whom he knew by reputation, he welcomed him to Ferney; and I witnessed the ingenuity with which Voltaire removed his wig, while playing chess to lend him his head." It is moreover by popularizing the image of the philosopher that Rosset acquires fame and recognition of the great ones of the time, enlightened amateurs and people of letters. The busts of Henry IV and Sully that we present, participate in this myth of the great men. Rosset thus responds to the demand of the elites, imbued with the spirit of the Enlightenment following the fashion of the Parisian salons, proud to display in their homes the effigies of the defenders of liberal ideals in order to support the reforms in the face of the reactionary obscurantism of the privileged. These two works sculpted in 1771 with such meticulousness illustrate to perfection the talent of Rosset Père. He initiated the tradition of the family workshop which specialized in small sculptures of philosophers, poets and illustrious men, most of the time made in ivory and in the round. Today, we can see works by the Rossets in the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum in New York (Fig. 1 and 2) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dole. Also worth mentioning is a pair of small alabaster busts representing Henri IV and the Duc de Sully from the Bruni-Tedeschi collection (Sotheby's London, 21 March 2007) sold for €42,000.