Nubian torch stand in polychrome wood, Venetian work from the 19th century

A Nubian torch-bearer in polychrome and gilded carved wood. It depicts a gondolier standing with one arm raised, clutching a torch. Beneath his feet is the bow of a gondola with its metal figurehead. The attached base is painted to imitate porphyry. Venetian work from the late 18th century. Minor wear and chips to the patina. The vogue for exoticism, which emerged very early in the 18th century with everything from the Far East, continued at the end of the century and the beginning of the 19th century with everything from Africa and America. The publication of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe in 1719 and then Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's Paul and Virginia in 1788 disseminated the image of the noble savage living in an idyllic nature untouched by white man. Many decorative objects depict this theme, conflating Black Africans, enslaved Black people in North America, and Native Americans. The fashion for these "noble savages" persisted into the 19th century, notably with the dissemination of Chateaubriand's *Atala*, published in 1801. Bibliography: E. Schlumberger, "L'heure exotique," in *Connaissance des arts*, Paris, 1978, no. 318, p. 30. 19th century, circa 1800. Dimensions: L: cm, W: cm, H: 99 cm.