Figurative Sculptures

A chinese porcelain table screen from the Ming period, 16/17th century. Decorated in High Relief With Shoulou on his crane and the Eight Immorta...

Depiction of an elegant fashionable lady in long, tight lace skirt in red with black and white, low-cut waisted top at the back, supporting her arms on her hips, her pointed black sh...

Gracefully posing dancer with head tilted to the right, tight-fitting top with bustier and floor-length, wide, front-slit, beige skirt with poppy decoration, holding it up with the a...

Very rare and beautiful lighter sculpted as a medieval knight in armor. Whimsical and classical, this piece is sculptural besides utilitarian. A great addition to your decor, bar or ...

Most likely Ming 15th/16th Century, carved chicken bone jade figure of a standing Guanyin (Quanyin) holding a scroll in one hand, prayer beads in the other. Affixed to carved wood ba...

Art Deco Bronze Figure of an Archer, a masterpiece that captures the essence of grace, strength, and elegance in one exquisite sculpture. Crafted with meticulous attention to detail,...

incredible couple of two men fighting with knives in white biscuit.

The sculpture we want to tell you about is a fascinating example of Italian Futurist art from the 1930s, made of bronze. The Futurist period, which emerged in Italy in the early 20th...

René Lalique, large and rare Art Deco "Automne" sculpture of a nude woman with grape clusters. Circa 1939. Early signature: R. Lalique, France. In excellent condition with minimal s...

3-1056 hand carved black walnut figure of Christ from a tree branch.

Art Deco sculpture athlete with rope by Max Le Verrier. The sculpture is executed in Art Metal with green patina and stands on a carved stone base France 1937. Similar model is ill...

A 19Th Century Large and impressive bronze with golden bronze patina of a girl holding a musical instrument .Signed P. Mengin 1853-1937. in very good condition. Made with a base that...

Karl Hagenauer (Austrian, 1898-1956) statue depicting the dancer Josephine Baker, cast brass in chrome finish, circa the 1930s. Stamped ATELIER HAGENAUER WIEN, MADE IN AUSTRIA with W...

Art Deco bronze sculpture hoop dancer by Georges Duvernet. Patinated bronze on a Portor marble and onyx base. France 1930. A slightly different version of this bronze is illust...

Rare and excellent Goldscheider art ceramic figure of the 1930's: Young standing Japanese woman in traditional kimono with wide sleeves and colored floral decoration on dark blue ba...

This Art Deco sculpture was produced in Italy and more precisely in Milan, by Guido Cacciapuoti in the 1930s.  The base is in ebonized wood and the sculpture, a typical Art Deco sty...

Art Deco Vintage vintage hand carved sculpture from lacquered limewood 1930s Vienna. A stunning figurative sculpture showing the main figure Lumpacivagabundus from a popular Viennese...

A rare and very fine bronze corpus of Christ after a model by Michelangelo, cast ca. 1597-1600 by Juan Bautista Franconio and painted in 1600 by Francisco Pacheco in Seville, Spain. The present corpus reproduces a model attributed to Michelangelo. The best known example, lesser in quality, is one on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). The association of this corpus with Michelangelo was first brought to light by Manuel Gomez-Moreno (1930-33) who studied the wider circulated casts identified throughout Spain. The attribution to Michelangelo was subsequently followed by John Goldsmith-Phillips (1937) of the MET and again by Michelangelo expert, Charles de Tolnay (1960). While Michelangelo is best known for his monumental works, there are four documented crucifixes he made. The best known example is the large-scale wooden crucifix for the Church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito in Florence, made in 1492 as a gift for the Prior, Giovanni di Lap Bicchiellini, for allowing him to study the anatomy of corpses at the hospital there. In 1562, Michelangelo wrote two letters to his nephew, Lionardo, indicating his intention to carve a wooden crucifix for him. In 1563 a letter between Lionardo and the Italian sculptor Tiberio Calcagni, mentions this same crucifix (a sketch of a corpus on the verso of a sheet depicting Michelangelo’s designs for St. Peter’s Basillica [Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille] may reproduce this). That Michelangelo was working on small corpora in the last years of his life is further evidenced by the small (26.5 cm) unfinished wooden crucifix located at the Casa Buonarroti, considered his last known sculptural undertaking. Michelangelo’s contemporary biographer, Giorgio Vasari additionally cites that Michelangelo, in his later years, made a small crucifix for his friend, Menighella, as a gift. Surviving sketches also indicate Michelangelo’s study of this subject throughout his career, most notably during the end of his life but also during the 1530s-40s as he deepened his spiritual roots. The occasional cameo of crucified Christ’s throughout his sketched oeuvre have made it challenging for scholars to link such sketches to any documented commissions of importance. All the while, in consideration that such objects were made as gifts, it is unlikely they should be linked with commissions. Nonetheless, a number of theories concerning Michelangelo’s sketches of Christ crucified have been proposed and some may regard the origin of the present sculpture. It has been suggested that the corpus could have its impetus with Michelangelo’s work on the Medici Chapel, whose exclusive design was given to the master. It is sensible smaller details, like an altar cross, could have fallen under his responsibility (see for example British Museum, Inv. 1859,0625.552). Others have noted the possibility of an unrealized large marble Crucifixion group which never came to fruition but whose marble blocks had been measured according to a sheet at the Casa Buonarroti. A unique suggestion is that Michelangelo could have made the crucifix for Vittoria Colonna, of whom he was exceedingly fond and with whom he exchanged gifts along with mutual spiritual proclivities. In particular, Vittoria had an interest in the life of St. Bridget, whose vision of Christ closely resembles our sculpture, most notably with Christ’s proper-left leg and foot crossed over his right, an iconography that is incredibly scarce for crucifixes. The suggestion could add sense to Benedetto Varchi’s comment that Michelangelo made a sculpted “nude Christ…he gave to the most divine Marchesa of Pescara (Vittoria Colonna).” Of that same period, two sketches can be visually linked to our sculpture. Tolnay relates it to a sketch of a Crucified Christ at the Teylers Museum (Inv. A034) of which Paul Joannides comments on its quality as suggestive of preparations for a sculptural work. Joannides also calls attention to a related drawing attributed to Raffaello da Montelupo copying what is believed to be a lost sketch by Michelangelo. Its relationship with our sculpture is apparent. Montelupo, a pupil of Michelangelo’s, returned to Rome to serve him in 1541, assisting with the continued work on the tomb of Pope Julius II, suggesting again an origin for the corpus ca. 1540. The earliest firm date that can be given to the present corpus is 1574 where it appears as a rather crudely conceived Crucifixion panel, flanked by two mourners in low-relief and integrally cast for use as the bronze tabernacle door to a ciborium now located at the Church of San Lorenzo in Padula. Etched in wax residue on the back of the door is the date, 27 January 1574, indicating the corpus would have at least been available as a model by late 1573. The Padula tabernacle was completed by Michelangelo’s assistant, Jacopo del Duca and likely has its origins with Michelangelo’s uncompleted tabernacle for the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Rome. The impetus for the Padula tabernacle’s Crucifixion panel begins with a series of late Crucifixion sketches by Michelangelo, depicting a scene of Christ crucified and flanked by two mourners (see British Museum Inv. 1895.0915.510; Ashmolean Museum Inv. 1846.89, KP II 343 recto; Windsor Castle RCIN 912761 recto; and Louvre Inv. 700). A faintly traced block possibly intended for sculpting the sketch of the crucified Christ on its recto was discovered by Tolnay on a version of the composition at Windsor Castle. The Windsor sketch and those related to it appear to have served as preparatory designs for what was probably intended to become the Basilica of St. Mary’s tabernacle door. Vasari documents that the project was to be designed by Michelangelo and cast by his assistant, Jacopo del Duca. Michelangelo died before the commission was complete, though on 15 March 1565, Jacopo writes to Michelangelo’s nephew stating, “I have started making the bronze tabernacle, depending on the model of his that was in Rome, already almost half complete.” Various circumstances interrupted the completion of the tabernacle, though its concept is later revitalized by Jacopo during preparations to sell a tabernacle, after Michelangelo’s designs, to Spain for Madrid’s El Escorial almost a decade later. The El Escorial tabernacle likewise encountered problems and was aborted but Jacopo successfully sold it shortly thereafter to the Carthusians of Padula. An etched date, 30 May 1572, along the base of the Padula tabernacle indicates its framework was already cast by then. A 1573 summary of the tabernacle also describes the original format for the door and relief panels, intended to be square in dimension. However, a last minute decision to heighten them was abruptly made during Jacopo’s negotiations to sell the tabernacle to King Phillip II of Spain. Shortly thereafter the commission was aborted. Philippe Malgouyres notes that the Padula tabernacle’s final state is a mixed product of the original design intended for Spain’s El Escorial, recycling various parts that had already been cast and adding new quickly finished elements for its sale to Padula, explaining its unusually discordant quality, particularly as concerns the crudeness of the door and relief panels which were clearly made later (by January 1574). Apart from his own admission in letters to Spain, it is apparent, however, that Jacopo relied upon his deceased master’s designs while hastily realizing the Padula panels. If Michelangelo had already earlier conceived a crucifix model, and Jacopo had access to that model, its logical he could have hastily employed it for incorporation on the door panel to the tabernacle. It is worth noting some modifications he made to the model, extending Christ’s arms further up in order to fit them into the scale of the panel and further lowering his chin to his chest in order to instill physiognomic congruence. A crude panel of the Deposition also follows after Michelangelo’s late sketches and is likewise known by examples thought to be modifications by Jacopo based upon Michelangelo’s initial sculptural conception (see Malgouyres: La Deposition du Christ de Jacopo del Duca, chef-d’oeuvre posthume de Michel-Ange). Jacopo’s appropriation of an original model by Michelangelo for more than one relief on the Padula tabernacle adds further indication that the crucifix was not an object unique to Jacopo’s hand, as few scholars have posited, but rather belongs to Michelangelo’s original...

iconic sculpture by Marcel Andre Bouraine of “Penthesilea, queen of the amazons”, is cast bronze in the rarest original antique silver color patina. Depicted is a nude woman archer i...

An extremely elegant Art Deco Terracotta Sculpture of a woman with her Borzoi dog, made in 1930 by Georges Coste. Stamped on the base with the Susse Frères Foundry seal and signed Ge...

Elegant Goldscheider Art Déco art ceramic figure from the 1930s: Dancer with chin-length brunette hair in light gray-blue long dance dress with abstract floral decoration, posing wi...

SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA ORIGIN : SWABIA, ULM REGION PERIOD : ca. 1510-1520 Height : 118 cm Length : 39 cm Depth : 17 cm Limewood...

Incredible bronze signed MAGHAULT FILs circa 1930 Art Deco "Don Quixote"with two marbles base.

IMPORTANT WOOD SCULPTURE REPRESENTING SAINT BARBARA ORIGIN : NORTHERN FRANCE OR FLANDERS PERIOD : 16th CENTURY Height: 103 cm Length: 40 cm Depth: 30 cm Oak wood Good condition Saint Barbara was the daughter of Dioscorus who imprisonned her in a tower to prevent her from being corrupted by Christianity. Despite this, she was taught and baptisted by a local priest. According to legend, she proved her faith by carving a third window into the tower, symbolic of the Trinity. Once her father learned this, he threatened her with his sword. She managed to escape and hide, not before being revealed by a sheperd. She was thrown in jail and tortured, refusing to denounce her faith. Her father forced her up to the mountain’s summit and decapitated her, afterwhich God struck him down by lightning. Saint Barbara`s following was popularized in the Occident in the 13th century because of the Golden Legend...

IMPORTANT POLYCHROME LOW-RELIEF DEPICTING CHRIST IN THE MOUNT OF OLIVES ORIGIN: SOUTH GERMANY or ALSACE PERIOD: ca. 1500-1510 Height : 78 cm Length : 57 cm Depth : 8 cm Limewood ...

SAINT JOHN OF CALVARY ORIGIN : SOUTH GERMANY PERIOD : 16th CENTURY Height: 104 cm Width: 42 cm Depth: 29 cm This Saint John belonged to a Crucifixion group depicting three figur...

Eugene Riboulet Art Deco White Clown "Paillasse", Biscuit Proof circa 1930

OLYMPIA Big, dynamic sculpure of an Greek athlete. Colored patinated white bronze with original patina. Sloping stone base with signature. Original ...

Large original bronze by P. Hugonnet signed on the marble, it is depicting the classic javelin thrower. This is a very well-detailed and quite intense figure. Look at his face, his h...

Fine early 20th century Art deco period bronze of a fencer holding and bending his rapier. The well modelled figure is naked except for a loincloth and he is seen looking down and flexing the blade of his rapier. Ludwig Eisenberger...

A wonderful original piece of the Renaissance Period - a carved wooden polychromed figure / statue of Saint Francis. This piece was found in France but most probably originated in 1...

Bing & Grøndahl, Columbine porcelain figurine. Model number: 2355. In perfect condition. First factory quality. Marked. Approx. 1930. Dimensions: H 25.0 cm.

Elegant dance couple, performing a long dance step to the side: the leading figure with a black hat, red jacket with wide sleeves and matching red breeches hugs the dance partner from behind in a strapless, black and white lace dress...

incredible bronze Art Deco signed B Forslund representing woman naked.

Incredible italian bronze after Miron with onix base representing Discobulo circa 1930

Incredible french Art Deco figure attributed to Bruno Zach dancer circa 1930

Graceful sculpture of a dancer with disk in green finish standing on black marble by Alexandre-Joseph Derenne for Max Le Verrier.

Incredible sculpture in german porcelain signed Rosenthal Moortgat circa 1930 representing Jesus Art deco

Art Deco bronze sculpture Diana the huntress with bow and fawn by Charles Eugène Breton on a rectangular bronze base. With artist signature and title. France 1930. Art Deco bronze...

This important example of WPA art, which celebrates American history and folklore like so many murals and other artworks in the 1930s, presents the bearded fig...

Beautiful art deco sculpture signed by Charles Henri Molins. The sculpture is signed by the author in the corner of the marble base.

ATALANTE Big, dynamic sculpure of a female archer and an antelope. Colored patinated white bronze. Sloping stone base with signature. Original work o...

Beautiful sculpture of a chinese girl. Signed by the french artist " Géo Maxim". .

A classic decorative metal statue. Some wear with a nice patina, but this is old-age. Made of metal, fixed on a marble base. It is a nice and beautiful sculpture of Mountain Climber....

Porcelain sculpture "Vanity" signed Fraureuth Kunstabteilung. Germany, circa 1930.

Elegant Goldscheider Art Deco ceramic figure of the 1930's: Dancer with shoulder-length hair in a long, wide, gray skirt with floral decoration and a pink...

Incredible sculpture in italian bronze signed E. Aurelio Art deco circa 1930 depicting naked boy sitting on edge of cliff.

Incredible bronze original Art Deco signed and numbered Franz Hagenauer circa 1930.

Fabulous simple yet elegant design by Walter Von Neesen for Chase circa 1935. Brass & copper stylized in the form of a arching cat. Rare find. In excellent vintage condition with min...

For those who loves motorcycles, here is a little gem. Beautifully cast and finished in a warm dark brown with hints of copper showing through, not quite what is referred to as "ja...

Limousin Art Deco sculpture named "A Woman and her Two Dogs" was created circa 1930s. This very attractive sculpture by the French Art Deco master...

Depiction of a dancer in Spanish costume: she wears a mantilla, a veil cloth that covers the head and neck down to the shoulders. Often, as here, a high comb is also tucked underneath, the peineta. The cloth is still worn today for festive costumes and is mostly made in lace technique. In addition, the dancer wears an elaborately decorated with floral patterns asymmetrical ruffled skirt. On oval, black-beige marbled base in rare execution. This figure also exists as a group 'Spanish Dance' with dance partner, model number 7557, a more frequent version. Designed by Josef LORENZL (1892 - 1950), an Austrian sculptor and ceramic modeler. His bronze statuettes often show graceful dancers with long...

Rare Goldscheider Art Deco ceramic figurine: Depiction of a seated dancer in a blue, strapless ball gown with lace flounces, the right leg folded over the left and the left arm on the knee, holding a ball mask...

French Art Deco ceramic sculpture by BERLOT-MUSSIER (Vierzon, 1929-1939), France, 1930s. Measures: Height: 9"(23cm), Width : 16.9"(43cm), Depth: 4"(10.2cm). Marked "Odyv" under the base. The ODYV brand is a creation of the Berlot-Mussier manufacture in Vierzon near Bourges (Cher, France). Created in 1927 from the meeting of Mr. Berlot, a coal wholesaler, and Mr. Mussier, a coal salesman, the company first produced porcelain before specializing in the production of earthenware. Art Deco style, it is a great success for the manufacture. If production slows down sharply during the Second World War, exports to big families in North Africa allow the company to recover well after 1945. Becoming its majority outlet, Berlot-Mussier will experience great difficulties after the independence of the Morocco and Tunisia in 1956, but especially Algeria in 1962. In the 1970s, the company was drawn into bankruptcy, following a crisis affecting the entire sector in Vierzon. The ODYV brand is a set of Art Deco objects produced between 1929 and 1939. It includes clocks with pendants, vases, shaped pieces as well as lamp bases. Art Deco appeared in Paris in 1925, during the international decorative arts fair. This style, based on the simplification and geometrization of shapes, will be very successful during the 1930s and ensure great success for ODYV. The specificity of this collection is its adaptability to customers. Indeed, the colors but also the shapes are chosen by the customer who can then order a unique piece according to his tastes. Customers may hesitate between a choice of pastel colors such as shades of pale green, beige, white or pink, all accented with gold or silver. All these objects were distributed by independent distributors who worked with Berlot-Mussier. A book retracing the history of the factory was published by the Charles VII...

Art Deco sculpture of a girl playing with a cat by Uriano. Metal with multi color patina on a marble & onyx base. France ca. 1930.

A 16th Century Giltwood and Polychromed Carved Group depicting God and Mary seated on a plinth.

Pair of 1930's French art deco bronze sculptures of dancing girls finished in Verdi green and black lacquered.

Incredible Art Deco bronze signed Le Faguays from 1930 original representing "Pierrot and Columbina"