Bronze Cabinet Curiosa Erotic Scene Portrait Couple Spanking Curiosity 19th Century

Bronze Antique Erotic scene titled "Othello fin d'siècle" also known as "La Fessée"

Bronze late 19th century with brown patina monogrammed HDC on the base , representing a couple captured in an eventful scene, treated like a little salon theater, between literary reference and exacerbated sensuality.

This sculpture seduces first by its nervousness. Everything is tension, controlled imbalance, thwarted momentum. The raised arm of the male figure holding a sandal, the rocking of the female body, the winding of the draperies, the tension of the legs and the break in the axes give the whole an electric energy. The sculptor is not looking for a fixed academic pose: he constructs a lively, jolting scene, where the reading revolves around movement and tension. This plastic nervousness gives the bronze great strength, and makes it fully in keeping with a fin-de-siècle taste for expressive, allusive and provocative subjects.

The subject also reveals the mores and social imaginary of its time, less compatible with our current sensibility. This is also what makes this work of historical interest: it testifies to a vein of cabinet sculpture where literature, erotic equivocation, theatricalized domination and salon humor were mixed.

Good used condition. Nice old patina, with wear, rubbing, small marks, a few oxidation spots and traces of time visible on the photos. Nice overall appearance and very good legibility of the group.

Height: 29 cm x18 cm x12 cm.