The Lisino Bear: A bronze figure, after the model by Nikolai Lieberich (1828-1883)

brown patina, on a rough-hewn rhodonite base

An enthusiastic bear hunter with both guns and bear spears, Emperor Alexander II narrowly escaped an unusually large beast during a hunt at Lisino near St Petersburg in 1865, inspiring this well-known model.  Originally cast with the bear standing beside a tree stump, editions with the bear on a hardstone base are known to have existed since the late 19th century, one of which was illustrated in an article on Russian bronzes published in Harper's New Monthly magazine in January 1889.