19th Century, Pair Of French Polychrome Porcelain Sculptures Depicting Cupid And Psyche

19th century, Pair of French Polychrome Porcelain Sculptures Depicting Cupid and Psyche

The delicious sculptures, made of hand-painted porcelain in polychrome, in Strasbourg in the 19th century, depict Cupid and Psyche.
The legend was written in the 2nd Century AD by the Latin writer Apuleius in his Metamorphosis.Metaphor of the eternal battle between rationality and instinct, between heart and brain, the legend tells the story of the God Love (Cupid) and the beautiful Psyche.This, because of its grace and splendor, attracted the envy of Venus.The goddess of beauty decided to ask for help from her son Cupid ordering him to hit Psyche with one of his infallible arrows and to make her fall in love with the ugliest man on earth.Cupid accepted but, once arrived in front of the girl, he was so enchanted by her beauty that he distracted himself to the point that one of his arrows hit him, making him fall madly in love with the beautiful girl.Cupid loves the girl Psiche but makes it a condition that she never tries to see her face;Psiche misses the pact but, after a series of initiatory trials, is forgiven and welcomed among the gods.
Cupid is depicted here according to the traditional iconography: winged, with a bow, while he is about to take the arrow to shoot from the quiver.Psyche, in a modest and fearful attitude, looks at him, leaving a basket of freshly picked grapes on the ground.
This pair of porcelain sculptures, pleasantly decorative, represents one of the most beautiful love legends ever, full of courage, change, challenges and losses.