Michael Lake
Head of Department
Lot 20*
Manner of Augustin Pajou (French, 1730-1809): A sculpted terracotta bust of a young lady Perhaps late 18th century
29 November 2022, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£3,000 - £5,000
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Manner of Augustin Pajou (French, 1730-1809): A sculpted terracotta bust of a young lady
Perhaps late 18th century
The sitter with her face upturned to sinister, her upswept hair tied with a simple band, her mouth with slightly parted lids, her bare shoulders above a draped low décolleté, the rear with incised date and indistinct initials inscribed Fecit anno 1774 / **, raised on a later faux green marble painted swept circular socle and integral shallow square plinth base, 36.4cm high overall
The sitter with her face upturned to sinister, her upswept hair tied with a simple band, her mouth with slightly parted lids, her bare shoulders above a draped low décolleté, the rear with incised date and indistinct initials inscribed Fecit anno 1774 / **, raised on a later faux green marble painted swept circular socle and integral shallow square plinth base, 36.4cm high overall
Footnotes
Provenance
The collection of Sir Michael and Lady Oppenheimer DD (3rd Baronet, British, 1924-2020), Jersey, thence by family descent.
Sir Michael Oppenheimer's maternal grandparents were Sir Robert Grenville Harvey, 2nd Baronet (1856-1931) and Lady Emily Blanche Harvey (1872-1935) of Langley Park, Buckinghamshire which was the Harvey Baronet's main family seat from 1788 until 1945.
Sir Michael's paternal family wealth was derived from mining interests in South Africa and his father Bernard Oppenheimer, as Chairman of the South African Diamond Corporation, received a baronetcy from George V in 1921 for setting up diamond sorting factories to employ wounded ex-servicemen after the First World War. The Oppenheimer family was involved with the prestigious De Beers brand over the subsequent decades of the 20th century and Lady Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022) was a distinguished moral and philosophical theologian, with a particular interest in the ethics pertaining to personal relationships.
Through its distinctive style, bearing and the modelling of the upturned face, this terracotta female portrait with her pronounced finely chiselled eyes, high forehead and simple coiffure is reminiscent of works by Augustin Pajou (1730-1809), pupil of the famous portrait artist Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne (1704-1778) and winner of the prestigious prix de Rome in 1748. Together with his contemporary Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), Pajou was one of the most prominent proponents of portrait sculpture in France during the second half of the 18th century.
Previously the present lot was traditionally thought to be more attributable to Jean-Antoine Houdon - possibly because of its similarities to the series of terracotta busts of children produced by Houdon, including his most famed juvenile work, the bust of Louis Brongriate which was shown at the Academy in 1775.
