Large Orientalist Group Bronze After Aime Millet (1819-1891)
Our magnificent bronze with forest green patina of The Lion Hunt (La Chasse au Lion) after the accomplished French sculptor, Aime Millet (1819-1891) measures an impressive 31 inches tall, 34 inches wide and 21 inches deep (78.7 by 86.4 by 53.3 cm). In good condition, with rubbing wear, scratches and some surface dirt in crevices, all consistent with age and good care.
Literature: Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de L'école Française, Paris, 1914, pp. 451-9.
For another casting of this group of comparable size and with brown patina, see lot 42 in Sotheby's sale of 19th and 20th Century Sculpture in London on July 10, 2019, which was offered with an estimate of 12,000-18,000 GBP ($9,600-$14,400), and was bought-in.
According to Sotheby's, Aimé Millet was born in Paris, son of the miniaturist F. Millet. He was a pupil of David d'Angers and Viollet le Duc. Exhibiting for the first time at the Salon in 1840, he went on to win a first class medal in 1857 and to become a Chavalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1859. The present evocative group encapsulates Millet's skill for monumental groups, in an orientalist style very much en vogue at the time.
