Self-portrait of Sarah Bernhardt in the form of monstrous chimera.Thiebaud Frere

Mechelen dolls are rare wooden devotional figurines (mainly walnut was used), which were made by some members of the Guild of Saint Luke. The figures, all individual saints, were made from reference models using highly regulated carving and polychrome techniques. They had to meet several requirements. The shape of the rug had to meet certain criteria and the letter M (from Mechelen) had to be visible in the shape. These devotional or saint figurines...

This is a tourist model of a Wagenia fishermen installation made out of wood, wire and small stones. The model stands on a wooden base; on the front you can read “Pecherie Wagenia” w...

Designed and sculpted in France by a regional artist, each Gorilla head is meticulously crafted from clay. This process brings forth a piece that embodies both dynamic movement and a...

Originally known as 'Yeoman Warders', the guards of the Tower of London were first formed in 1485 by Henry VII. Today, they are more commonly known as 'Beef...

An architectural element featuring an Acanthus leaf surrounding a face.

Pair of chimeras covered in gold and copper. Creatures from Chinese mythology, combination of different animals that have different supernatural characteristics.

Marie Pierre Thiebaud (1933-2010) Golden bronze Founder's stamp: Valsuani Draft 1 / 4 Measures: height: 21 cm Length: 36cm Depth: 22cm Description This art piece was made by Marie-Pierre Thiébaut. Her name is engraved on the side of the sculpture: « THIEBAUT », as well as the print run number: « 1 / 4 ». There is also the foundry stamp « C VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE ». This sculpture is composed by seven individual pieces. There is a main piece on which rest bronze elements, including two spheres and three elements which are articulated around a cylinder. Close to abstraction, the shape can remind of a sea creature. The artist conceives a sculpture with vaporous forms which plays with effects of brightness and contrasts, in particular thanks to marked undulations. As the preface of the book, Marie-Pierre Thiébaut, La forme-geste reminds us, the artist’s work can’t be dissociated of a mineral and natural world : « Some of the pieces remind us of undulations of the sea bed, the granulated skin of a wave, the intimacy of a body. A whole universe touched, suggested with grace, fervor and present with touches of absolute. » In addition, the writer Marguerite Duras wonders about the vision of her work in the preface of the exhibition Lanscapes in 1972 : « Where are we? at the bottom of the sea? at the bottom of a woman? in a fruit? I believe that we are both in the sea and inside of an organ. in the primary, common environment, the marine symbiosis. » Marie Pierre Thiebaud Biography : Marie-Pierre Thiébaut (1933-2010) is an artist, sculptor and visual artist. She favors natural materials such as earth, wood, or paper. Bronze is also one of the mediums She uses, although rarer in her creative process. At the beginning of the 1950’s, Marie-Pierre Thiébaut trained at the Academy of the Grande Chaumière, with Ossip Zadkine, who would say of his apprentice "that he was young, and sculpture becoming the primary concern of her life, I am sure that the sun will illuminate her work of a truly discovered world” During this period she explores the sensuality of the female body. Her work expresses a personal serenity, developed on the margins of any theoretical thought. The essence of her work lies in the contemplation of forms and what they can evoke for the viewer. Our work is the perfect synthesis. Thus her gesture has consequences since Marie-Pierre Thiébaut offers the world a sensitive and dreamlike universe. Many art personalities such as François Barré, the painter Jean Degottex...

Bronze lamp in the form of a townhouse by Bergman Austrian, circa 1900 Measures: Height 30m, width 17cm, depth 10cm This delightful cold-painted bronze lamp was crafted by the famous Viennese foundry owner, Franz Xavier Bergman. Franz Xavier inherited the Bergman Foundry from his father, Franz Bergman, in the 1890s. Bergman’s works were called ‘cold-painted’, meaning that several layers of paint were applied by hand to the bronze piece after it had been cast. The lamp takes the form of a tall, multi-storeyed timber and brick building. The house is faced with yellow plaster and roofed with red tiles. It is dotted with green-grilled windows of varying shape and size and features a small turret on its right side. A door opens on the left side of the middle storey, to allow access to the light bulb contained there. When turned on, the light produced by the bulb shines atmospherically out through the house’s colored windows. To the right of the building, a minstrel stands on stone steps, and sings along to a tune he plays on his mandolin. The hanging sign of a boot projects out from the house on the left, identifying the building as a cobbler’s shop. Indeed, the two large oak doors...