A composition stone figure after the 1757 marble original titled “The Bather” by Étienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791), the original in the collection of the Louvre, the figure captured immediately following a bath, with proper left leg striding forward, her body slightly hunched whilst reaching for a towel, the figure’s hair partially upswept, marked “ITALGARDEN”, Italian, ca. 1960.

Étienne Maurice Falconet worked in the Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. Born in Paris, he began his professional career as a marble cutter, but later became the pupil of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1704-1778), a sculptor primarily known for portrait busts, but who also created large-scale figural statuary for Versailles. Falconet exhibited at the 1755 Salon in Paris and then returned to exhibit The Bather in 1757. In the same year. Falonet became head of the sculpture studio at the Sevres porcelain manufactory, where his output was inspired by François Boucher (1703-1770) and other painters of the Rococo period. He was commissioned by Catherine the Great of Russia to produce a monumental sculpture of Peter the Great and the resulting work, known as The Bronze Horseman (completed 1782) holds court at Senate Square in St. Petersburg.

66 ins. overall height; diameter of base 20 ins.