White marble Odalisque from the Art Deco period

Art Deco sculpture in white marble depicting a reclining odalisque, leaning on a cushion and holding a fan. The stylized headdress is topped with a 1930s-style headband and holds back short, curly hair. The face is finely crafted, and the gaze is accentuated by deep-set, almond-shaped eyes. The body, on the other hand, is sculpted in the antique style and is slightly androgynous. The young woman rests on a white marble base carved in the style of a Turkish carpet, revealing geometric and floral motifs. A second base in Medici Breche supports the whole. Work of the early 20th century French school.

Circa: 1930

Base dimensions: 63cm x 22cm x 3cm (24.80 in x 8.66 in x 1.18 in)

Overall dimensions: W: 65cm, D: 22cm, H: 40cm.
Overall dimensions: W: 25.6in, D: 8.7in, H: 15.7in.

Condition report: In good condition. One toe restored. On the legs, a small crack resembling a vein.

The odalisque in art

Odalisques are virgin slaves in the Ottoman seraglio. They were offered to the various women in the Sultan's harem as chambermaids. The figure of the odalisque proposed by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1814 was a source of inspiration for this type of production from the mid-19th century onwards. Indeed, it was these attributes (fan, cushion, turbaned headdress, etc.) and this posture with bent legs that were to be retained and found again in the depiction of the lodalisque. In the imagination of Western artists, the figure of the odalisque is most often associated with a fantasized world of sensuality and pleasure, where harem women bask naked in their interiors or at the baths. Throughout the 19th century, a taste for the Orient encouraged the depiction of odalisques in painting and literature. Sculptures, on the other hand, depicted this theme much less frequently, and our white marble statuette is a rare example.