Sitting Hound
Sold
A mid-19th century bronze study of a sitting hound with a hare at their feet. Excellent light brown patination. Signed 'P J Mene' to naturalistic base.
Pierre- Jules Mêne was born in 1810 and worked as a teenager for his father as a metal turner, culminating in the casting of his own bronze sculptures his foundry by 1837.
Mêne specialised in small bronze animal figures that were so popular with the Bourgeois of the Second Empire.
To meet popular demand for his sculptures he produced more editions than other contemporaries of his time and while his work is often priced lower in comparison with the likes of Barye, the quality is as high as the best of his counterparts, often being described as the lost-wax casting expert of his time ‘cire perdue method’.
He died in the city of his birth in 1879 and is considered one of the pioneers of animal sculptures in the 19thcentury.
Artist: Pierre-Jules Mêne (1810-1879)
Dimensions: H 30cm, L 43cm, W 14cm
Origin: French
Date: Circa 1860