Edgar Degas

stamped Degas, numbered 48/H and with the foundry mark A.A. Hébrard Cire Perdue

height: 11 ¾ in. 29.8 cm.

Rune Swanstrom, Gothenburg (acquired by 1960)

M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York (acquired from the above on 21 November 1961)

Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and Baroness Fiona Thyssen-Bornemisza, Lugano (acquired from the above on 24 February 1962)

Christie's, London, 24 June 1997, lot 114

Peter Findlay Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)

Max N. Berry, Oklahoma (acquired from the above in March 2000)

Christie’s, New York, 18 November 2025, lot 422 (consigned by the above)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

New York, Barbara Mathes Gallery, Edgar Degas, 1999 (titled Horse Balking)

London, Browse & Darby, Degas: Bronzes, 1999, no. 16 

John Rewald, Degas Works in Sculpture: A Complete Catalogue, New York, 1944, pl. IX, p. 20 and p. 43, illustration of another cast (titled Horse Clearing an Obstacle)

John Rewald and Leonard von Matt, L'Oeuvre sculpté de Degas, Zürich, 1957, no. IX, pls. 10-11, p. 144 and p. 145, illustrations of other casts

Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino, L'Opera Completa di Degas, Milan, 1970, no. S43, p. 142 and p. 143, illustration of another cast (titled Cavallo All’Abbeveratoio)

Jacques Lassaigne and Fiorella Minervino, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Degas, Paris, 1974, no. S43, p. 142 and p. 143, illustration of another cast

Charles W. Millard, The Sculpture of Edgar Degas, Princeton, 1976, pl. 66, p. 23 and n.p., illustration of another cast (titled Horse Clearing Obstacle)

John Rewald, Degas' Complete Sculpture, Catalogue Raisonné, San Francisco, 1990, no. IX, p. 33, illustration in color of another cast, p. 60, illustration of another cast and p. 61, illustration of the wax model (titled Horse Clearing an Obstacle or Horse Balking)

Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Paris, 1991, no. 43, pp. 84-85, illustrations of other casts, p. 173, illustration of another casts and p. 174, illustration of the wax model (titled Cheval se dressant)

Sara Campbell, "Degas, The Sculptures: A Catalogue Raisonné" in Apollo, vol. CXLII, no. 402, 1995, no. 48, p. 34, illustration of another cast (titled Horse clearing an obstacle)

Joseph S. Czestochowski and Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes, Memphis, 2002, no. 48, p. 214, illustration in color of another cast and p. 215, illustrations of other casts and the wax model (titled Horse Balking or Horse Clearing an Obstacle)

Sara Campbell, Richard Kendall, Daphne Barbour and Shelley Sturman, Degas in the Norton Simon Museum, vol. II, Pasadena, 2009, no. 42, p. 259, illustration of the wax model, p. 260, illustration in color of another cast, and pp. 261 and 538 (titled Horse balking (Horse clearing an obstacle))

Suzanne Glover Lindsay, Daphne S. Barbour and Shelley G. Sturman, Edgar Degas: Sculpture, Washington, D.C., 2010, no. 11, p. 96, p. 97, illustration in color of the wax model, p. 98, illustration of the wax model and p. 99 (titled Horse Balking (Horse Clearing an Obstacle))

After Degas’ death in 1917, his heirs authorised the A.A. Hébrard foundry to cast the artist's 73 original wax models into bronze multiples. According to their original agreement, 22 bronze casts would be made for each figure: one set for Degas’s heirs, marked HER; one for the foundry marked HER.D and 20 sets for sale, marked A-T. Each bronze is thus numbered alpha-numerically, indicating both the foundry’s inventory number and the series to which it belongs. However, Hébrard sometimes did not complete a full letter series or, he produced more examples that were originally contracted, resulting in many variations in the edition sizes for each figure. The present cast is marked 48/H, and from this series, 21 casts have been located.