Carpeaux etnic bronze : Le chinois (1868). N1 (scetch) Observatory fountain 1868

JEAN-BAPTISTE CARPEAUX 1827 - 1875

Le Chinois N°1 (study for Asia) (1868). Model from the observatory fountain. Sketch

Height ca.60 cm

A similar copy auctioned on June 22, 2023, at Bonhams (Alain Delon: 60 Years of Passion) with an estimate of 30000 to 50000 euro.

Another bronze copy was sold at the Artcurial auction on November 18, 2020, for 52000 euro.

At Sotheby's on December 14, 2016, a similar copy was auctioned for £75000.

This beautiful bust of a young Chinese man, finely cast in bronze, represents a high point of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's oeuvre. Le Chinois is one of Carpeaux’s most sought after models, which he made in preparation of the monumental group of the fountain of l’Observatoire. In 1867, Baron Haussmann, then Prefect of Paris, commissioned the architect Gabriel Davioud, director of works for the city, to create this fountain for the Observatory garden. Davioud suggested that Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux be commissioned to design it. The genius of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux layed in his ability to choose major themes that he transposed into original compositions. Once again, his group for the Observatory is surprising. The sculptor conceived a group of four figures embodying the Four Parts of the World, supporting the celestial sphere represented by a hollowed-out globe. Two of these allegories, Asia and Africa, were executed after a live model. Asia is represented by this Chinese man and Africa by a bust entitled "Pourquoi naître esclave ?" (Why be born as a slave)?

While Carpeaux has carefully modeled the features of his sitter, the bust’s title, Le Chinois (The Chinese Man), transforms this unknown individual into an idealized "type," or stand-in for an entire people.

The fountain was not executed until 1874, a year before Carpeaux's death, and finally the bust of the Chinese personifying Asia was adapted to a female figure in order to harmonize and balance the group.

Carpeaux made two different versions of Le Chinois :

- Le Chinois N°1 (1868). Esquisse. The 1868 version is sketchier and is characterized by a more spontaneous modelling.

- Le Chinois N°2 (1872) represents a more polished naturalistic version of the same model and was exhibited at the Salon of 1872 and in Brussels in 1874.

After the 1870 Prussian war and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's exile in England, the Atelier Carpeaux, a studio established to reproduce the artist's work, reopened its doors and began marketing the two versions of the bust of the Chinaman. Here, the sculptor was particularly innovative in also publishing the sketched version of the work (which, for the time, was a daringly modern move). The public appreciates the vitality of the model, the flat areas of material that enliven his costume and the movement of the face turned to the right, which multiplies the points of view.

The two versions of Le Chinois were produced by the artist’s atelier as soon as 1872, and then posthumously from 1875. Posthumous editions of both versions were made a.o. by the Susse-Freres manufactory as of 1914.

The two versions were also edited in different heights (ranging between 35 and 70 cm) and in different materials (terracotta, bronze and marble)

The presented model is a posthumous cast after the first 1868 version.