Lot 472 | A MATCHED PAIR OF FRENCH BRONZES OF PAN AND SYRINX
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After the models by A. Coysevox, late 19th century, the mounts to the bases stamped HD for Henri Dasson Pan with an oak-leaf crown seated on a stump palying a flute with a small satyr behind him, inscribed A. COYSEVOX/1709, Syrinx with a laurel-leaf crown seated on a stump with one arm raised with a cupid behind her, inscribed A. COYSEVOX. F/1709, both on identical ormolu-mounted and brass-inlaid bomb‚ Boulle-style bases with acanthus chutes ending in claw feet Pan 231/4in. (59cm.) high, 91/2in. (24 cm.) wide, 91/2in. (24cm.) deep; Syrinx 221/2in. (57.2cm.) high, 9in. (23cm.) wide, 9in. (23cm.) deep (2) PROVENANCE Property of an Important Private French Collector, sold Sotheby's London, 7 December 2000, lot 65 (œ26,950). NOTES COMPARATIVE LITERATURE See F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries: The Reign of Louis XIV, London, 1977, pp.213-215, nos.88-90. The present bronzes are reductions of the marble statues executed by Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720) in 1708 for the Appartements Verts in the gardens of Marly (today in the Louvre). Together with the seated Flora by Coysevox, the three sculptures form an ensemble, where the two nymphs are sitting on tree trunks listening to the flute of Pan. Henry Dasson (1825-1896) established his business at 106, Rue Vielle-du-Temple. He was renowned for the exceptional standard of the ormolu that he used which had a high quality of mercurial gilding. He specialized in copies of Louis XIV, XV and XVI furniture, but he also manipulated 18th century designs to his own taste. In 1871 he bought the workshop and remaining stock from the widow of Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, who had established a reputation for furniture of the finest quality. Dasson continued to excel, exhibiting pieces at the Expositions Universelles in 1878 and 1889, when he received a Grand Prix Artistique for his display.
