Sculpture Of A Meditative Young Nymph

Sculpture depicting a young nymph reclining in a dreamy pose. Her body is delicately extended, while she elegantly leans on an overturned jug, a motif evoking the world of springs and pastoral deities of ancient mythology. The hand raised to her face conveys a meditative and contemplative attitude, lending the whole a gentle and poetic atmosphere. Her hair, simply tied back, reflects the feminine ideal inspired by Antiquity, very much in vogue at the end of the 18th century within the context of Neoclassical taste. The presence of the jug reinforces the interpretation of the figure as a spring nymph or allegory of water, a frequent theme in decorative sculpture of this period. This is an original sculpture, modeled by hand, and not a cast. The reverse side retains visible traces of the artist's work and the firing of the clay, attesting to its workshop origins.