Attributed to Jacob-Sigisbert Adam 1670-1747

Emile Strauss Collection, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 3-4, 1929, lot 81 (illus.) (the third); Heim Gallery, London

These three terracotta reliefs of putti with military accoutrements and trophies belong to a group of five, of which the remaining two are in the Musée Historique Lorrain in Nancy, which have been attributed to Jacob Sigisbert Adam (1670-1747).  They may have been maquettes, as Avery notes, for large scale reliefs adorning architecture, such as a frieze for a triumphal arch (Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1981, op. cit.).

The Adams were an important family of French sculptors, originally from Nancy. Jacob-Sigisbert (1670-1747) worked in Metz and was later a pupil of César Bagard before establishing his own workshop. In 1699, he became Court Sculptor to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine for whom he executed several works decorating his château in Lunéville. In 1718, Adam designed the sculptural decoration on the facade of the Palais Ducal at Nancy.  He was father of Lambert-Sigisbert Adam (1700-1759), one of the most important sculptors in the decoration of Versailles at the time of Louis XV, Nicolas-Sebastien (1705-1778) and Francois-Gaspard Adam (1710-1761), and grandfather of Clodion.