Auction Catalogue

3 June 1999

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Ancient, Celtic, British and World Coins, Tokens, Coin Weights and Historical Medals

The Arts Club  40 Dover St  London  W1S 4NP

Lot

№ 828

.

3 June 1999

Estimate: £120–£150

France, Amicitia, a uniface bronze plaquette by René Gregoire, c. 1900, young woman with flowing hair and wearing a diaphanous robe seated, her right arm on an easel, her other arm resting on the shoulder of a naked young woman at her feet, antique columns and a lake on which swims a swan behind; the plaquette mounted on wood. Extremely fine, sensitively and softly modelled (£120-150)

Whether Gregoire iintended this image simply to portray the innocent pleasures of female friendship we will never know, but it the luxuriance of the setting and the expressions of the two young women seems to hint at a relationship more physicall. Whatever the case the study is modelled with Gregoire’s usual skill and sensitivity to the beauty of the female form.