CAST FROM THE MODELS BY EMILE-CORIOLAN-HIPPOLYTE GUILLEMIN, LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Emile-Coriolan-Hippolyte Guillemin (French, 1841-1907) made his debut at the Salon in 1870, later winning an Honorable Mention for sculpture in 1897. The present figures are a departure from the Orientalist figures and busts, particularly his Jeune Filles de Caire, for which Guillemin is best remembered. Depicting two Renaissance beauties, they are however no less exotic. Of noble stature, each figure wears a bejewelled diadem and draped robes held by a repoussé breastplate or bodice cast with arabeseques. They number alongside two other models of candelabra by Guillemin, 'Deux Femmes: Indienne et Persane' and 'Deux Femmes Japonaises', of which reductions were cast by the Barbedienne foundry.