Antique Bronze Fallow Deer SculptureSilvered Figure on Gilt Bronze Base — French Animalier School, Late 19th Century

DETAILS:
Size: Height 13 cm (5.1 in) · Length 14.7 cm (5.8 in) · Base 14.7 × 6 cm (5.8 × 2.4 in) — roughly the size of a large book standing upright
Material: silvered bronze figure; gilt bronze naturalistic terrain base
Style/Period: French animalier school, late 19th century
Weight: 878 g (1.9 lb)
Shipping: professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide
Condition: very good; silvering sound with age-consistent variation; gilt base bright and stable; no chips or repairs
Returns: accepted within 30 days

The animalier school that formed around Antoine-Louis Barye in Paris in the 1830s changed what bronze animals could be. Before Barye, animal sculpture was decorative — graceful, symmetrical, unthreatening. The animaliers went to the Jardin des Plantes with sketchbooks and came back with something different: animals caught in the specific truth of their own movement, on naturalistic terrain bases that placed them in the world rather than on a plinth. The fallow deer — alert, mid-stride, head raised — was a recurring subject, the animal's particular combination of lightness and wariness making it one of the more demanding tests of a sculptor's observation.

This figure is French, late nineteenth century, in the animalier tradition, cast in silvered bronze on a gilt bronze naturalistic base. The deer is modelled mid-stride, one foreleg raised, the head turned slightly upward with the ears fanned forward — the posture of an animal that has caught a sound it cannot yet place. The body is worked in broad, confident planes, the musculature reading clearly through the flanks and shoulders without being overstated; the antlers, still in velvet, are cast with the soft, slightly flattened form of early growth rather than the hard tines of the mature rack. Note how the terrain base — rocks, ground cover, the stub of a branch — is modelled with the same attention as the figure itself, the detail that separates an animalier cast made for a serious audience from one made for a mantelpiece market. The two-tone finish — silvered figure against gilt base — was a deliberate choice by the foundry, the contrast giving the small piece a visual presence beyond its size.

It arrives professionally packed and fully insured. Returns are accepted within 30 days.

Condition

Read our condition standard. Please ask if you need additional photographs or measurements.

A decorative style is not a guarantee of a particular maker or date. See the individual listing for the stated attribution and period.

Worldwide delivery is included in the price. Every piece is individually packed, tracked and fully insured. No shipping charge is added at checkout. If your destination is not listed, please contact us before ordering.

European Union: no customs and no import charges. Delivery usually takes 2–5 working days after dispatch.

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United Kingdom: UK import VAT is payable on delivery (5% for antiques over 100 years old, otherwise 20%).

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Delivery information

Notify us within 30 days of delivery if you wish to return a piece. No reason is required. Returns are free within the Netherlands and Belgium; from elsewhere you pay return shipping for a change-of-mind return.

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