FINE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART
Royal Splendour
An important and massive Pair of Probably Eastern French Faience models of seated lions, the male and female each seated, confronting, guardant, and looking to one side, the terracotta animals carefully formed with great sculptural work to the manes, ears and snarling faces, the tin glazed bodies picked out in blue and manganese to incorporate the highly detailed features, on rectangular bases.
Circa: 1770
Height: 30 ins (76 cms)
Length: 24 ins (61 cms)
No marks
The terracotta bodies are comparable to some of the larger pieces of Faience produced at this time such as the great stones incorporated into some European country houses or plinths or fireplaces used within architectural interior schemes. The Lions have a romanesque quality about them, which has its roots in carving within churches from the Byzantine period, but a style that was popular within the 11th and 12th centuries, and also in the stonework of the Renaissance within the 16th Centure European art. Although the colouring is reminiscent of work on Italian pottery, an Eastern French attribution cannot entirely be ruled out, where these designs also had influence.