
Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale
Sold for £5,000 inc. premium
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Provenance
Comte Amédée de Tureene, no. 19 (according to a label on the reverse)
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2010, lot 123, where purchased by the present owner's father
The subject is taken from one of Aesop's fables. A man had a donkey and a lapdog. The lapdog was a great favourite of his master and was often spoiled with treats and affection. The donkey, however, was put endlessly to work on the corn-mill, in the forest and on the farm, for no reward. He often lamented his own hard fate and contrasted it with the luxury and idleness of the lapdog. One day the donkey broke loose, and rushed into his master's house, leaping up on to the master as he had seen the lapdog do. In doing so he broke the table and smashed the dishes on it into tiny pieces. The servants, hearing the commotion, drove the donkey back to his stable and locked him up. Once there, beaten half to death, he cried "I have brought it all on myself! Why could I not have been contented to labour with my companions, and not wish to be idle all the day like that useless little lapdog?"