Object Description
Antique 19th-century French pair of bronze figures depicting water-bearers, elegantly draped in beautifully crafted robes and holding Cretan-style water vessels.
One of the figures is signed ‘J. L. Maillet’. Jean-Louis Maillet, who studied under Feuchère and Pradier, won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1847. After spending five years in Rome, he made his debut at the Salon of 1853 and subsequently worked on several notable projects in Paris, including churches, the Louvre, the Hôtel de Ville, and the Opéra. Maillet, along with his classically-trained contemporaries, focused primarily on Biblical and Antique themes. In 1859, he exhibited a significant silver work titled Agrippine portant les cendres de Germanicus, with a marble version later placed in Monceau Park in Paris in 1893.