Two large marble figures depicting a bacchante,... Lot 22

Two large marble figures depicting a bacchante, her hair mingled with grapes and holding a cup containing grapes, and a figure of Erigone, wearing ivy leaves and looking at a bunch of grapes, with a tree trunk and rattlesnakes. Attributed to Jean Joseph Foucou (1739-1815). Late 18th-early 19th century. H. 97 cm and 99 cm PFD Minor accidents and restorations, notably to the base Provenance : Sale Paris, Néret-Minet, Couteau-Bégarie, December 1, 1989, lot 128. Sale Paris, Néret-Minet, November 21, 2008, lot 76. Bibliography : A.L. Poulet and G. Scherf, Clodion, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Louvre, Paris 1992, p. 380-381 A certain similarity of style and subject matter sometimes leads to confusion between Clodion's works and those of Jean Joseph Foucou. In this respect, the 1992 Clodion exhibition catalog gives the Bacchante holding a child satyr on her shoulder in the Musée du Louvre (no. 83) to Foucou. The catalog then makes a number of comparisons, citing in particular two pendant marble figures sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, on December 1, 1989, lot 128, one representing a Bacchante and the other Erigone, the latter gazing lovingly at a bunch of grapes (corresponding to Bacchus' transformation to seduce her), with rattlesnakes suspended from the tree trunk. The Clodion exhibition catalog likens the Bacchante figure to the one in the Louvre, while suggesting that the Erigone figure may correspond to the Foucou marble from the 1806 Salon (no. 598 in the booklet).