L12230

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Lot 180
  • 180

Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
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Description

  • Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier
  • Mauresque d'Alger chantant (Moorish Woman of Algiers Singing)
  • signed: CORDiER
  • bronze, silvered, gilt, black, brown and green patina

Condition

Overall the condition of the bronze is good with wear and dirt to the surface consistent with age. There are a few particular areas of wear to the surface, including to the silvering on the chemise and to the headdress, and to the black patina on the face at the nose and eyebrows (this black patina is probably intentionally oxidised silver). There is also rubbing throughout the green cold painting. The earrings are lost. There are a few nicks and scratches to the surface. There are a few minor casting flaws, including to the drapery at the rear.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

La Mauresque d'Alger Chantant was one of thirteen portraits which Cordier, ethnographic sculptor to the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle, produced during his mission to Algeria from April to October in 1856. On 5th April 1856, Cordier was granted a fund of 1000 francs to visit Algeria with an official brief to 'study the various types of indigenous peoples from the standpoint of art'. The sculptor took up his sojourn with enthusiasm and was determined to experience the culture as closely as possible. He insisted on living amongst Algerians, rather than fellow French expatriates, and appears to have been accepted within the community. As he wrote, 'I lived in a native quarter of the Casbah, I got on well with everyone, and as my door was always open, pretty soon I entertained quite a number of visitors'. It was here that he captured the likeness of his Mauresque d'Alger chantant.

The Mauresque d'Alger chantant was exhibited at the Palais de l'Industrie in 1860 alongside other portraits created during Cordier's Algerian sojourn. A descriptive catalogue of the exhibition was written by the critic Marc Trapadoux. Trapadoux was fascinated by the Mauresque chantant and wrote passionately of her vitality:

'...the transparent colour of her skin is white and rose, her perfumed hair black and shiny, her eyes, blue and limpid, shine with joy, her graceful face reflects an ingenious and vibrant soul. Her entire personality expresses pleasure and surrender. Her mouth half-open like a flower, lets escape a smooth sound, a sort of chirping which swells her neck, lifts her breast and throws back her head...'

The Mauresque d'Alger chantant was one of the most popular of Cordier's models and it was edited in bronze in various sizes. The present bronze is notable particularly for its exuberant multi-polychromed patina. Cordier was fascinated with the notion of polychromy in sculpture, and was inspired both by recent discoveries regarding the use of colour in antique statuary, as well as by the work of his namesake, the early Baroque sculptor Nicolas Cordier. The green colouring of the present Mauresque's clothing is typical of Cordier's approach. It appears again in the rediscovered bronze Mauresque noire, which was offered at Sotheby's, London last year in The Orientalist Sale on 24 April 2012, lot 17 (sold for £205,250 aggregate). Like this Mauresque noire, the present bust similarly has a partially silvered and gilt surface. This technique, of fusing silver or gilding to metal in a process known as galvanoplasty, was very novel at the time that Cordier was working. When the sculptor first exhibited a pair of bronzes made using this technique, his Chinese Man and Chinese Woman, at the Paris Salon of 1853, they caused a sensation.


It is possible that the present bust was originally conceived as one of a pair with another model, probably the Mauresque noire. These models appear as pairs in the 2004 catalogue raisonné by Laure de Margerie, and a similar bust, but with an overall silvered surface, was sold as a pair with a cast of the Mauresque noire in these rooms on 26 November 1990, lot 92 (sold for £56,500 aggregate). This hypothesis is given credence by the fact that, like the pair sold in 1990, the present bronze has a socle with a rounded base, whereas the single bronze casts of the model appearing in the catalogue raisonné have socles with squared bases.

A marble version of the Mauresque d'Alger chantant was sold in these rooms on 2 July 2012, lot 168 (sold for £133,250 aggregate).


RELATED LITERATURE
M. Trapadoux, L'Oeuvre de M. Cordier. Galerie anthropologique et ethnographique pour servir a l'histoire des races, Paris 1860, pp. 11 and 13-14, no. 3; L. de Margerie and E. Papet, Facing the Other. Charles Cordier (1827-1905) Ethnographic Sculptor, exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2004, pp. 188-191, cat. nos. 359-383