A French ormolu bronze statuette of a warrior, seated on a pedestal fixing his greave.
Antoine-Pierre Aubert (French 1853 -1912)
After a mid-18th century composition of the French sculptor J.-B. Pigalle «Mercure attachant sa talonnière».
Aubert combines classical-mythological vocabulary with his warrior - dressed somehow like a roman soldier - with lion skin the traditional attribute of Heracles, better known as Hercules, the divine hero with extraordinary strenght. Two sphinxes bust emerge from his pedestal. Shield, sword and bow (?) at his feet.
The mingling of genre suggests the canon of the Second Empire taste and a date in the second half of 19th century.
Signed Aubert
Height: 28 cm (11")