BISCUIT SCULPTURE "YOUNG GIRL WITH A BROKEN JUG", 19TH CENTURY

Porcelain bisque figurine representing a young woman holding in her skirt flowers, which she has picked, probably peonies. On her arm hangs a broken pitcher. Although her hair is neat, she is wearing an untied dress with a disturbed kerchief and is barefoot, on a dirt road. Signed in hollow on the base:"G. Levy". A flounce of the dress broken and glued back.

This figurine is representative of the ambiguous subjects of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Although it shows a taste for a return to nature, it also carries a moralizing warning. Indeed, the broken jug is part of the well-known eighteenth-century codes for evoking the loss of virginity. The distraught look on the face and the hands tied on the lower abdomen take on a completely different meaning. Similarly, the peonies she is wearing are a symbol of shame. This statuette is an opportunity to warn women of the dangers they run into through coquetry. This sculpture is based on a painting by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) in the Louvre Museum.

Circa: 1860

Dim: W:16cm, D:13cm, H:48cm.

Condition report in good condition.