This unpublished statuette corresponds in style and facture to a series of animals currently thought to have been produced by Prieur (1540-1611), court sculptor to King Henri IV of France.
These are attributed to him on the basis of specific references in his post mortem inventory, which correspond in subject to a number of extant statuettes that share a common style and scale. The key work is a group of King Henri IV on horseback vanquishing two foes, of which an excellent example was sold at Christie's New York, 10 January 1990, lot 195.
The present subject is tangentially alluded to in an entry on a number of wax preparatory models for casting: "Item quatorze figures d'animaux de cire . . . deux lions, trois boucs, ung autre lion, ung chien, une vache et une teste de cerf". This reference to a stag's head, alongside those to lions, he-goats, a dog and a cow, is suggestive of the present statuette, though it may have referred to a disembodied, possibly heraldic, rendering. The subject was popular in France, as the stag was an attribute of the goddess Diana, who had been flatteringly associated with Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II and consequently remained a traditional complimentary simile.