Fama and Mercury riding Pegasus

Rare pair of Louis XIV darkened-lead equestrian Sculptures, representing Fama and Mercury riding Pegasus.

Each above an ebony-veneer oak base.

Entourage of Antoine Coysevox
(1640-1720)
Louis XIV period

Dimensions of Sculptures:

Fama
Width 24 3/4 in.
Height 19 3/4 in.

Mercury
Width 20 3/4 in.
Height 20 in.

Dimensions of Bases:

Height 3 3/4 in.
Width 23 2/3 in.
Depth 11 3/4 in.

Note

The two original Fama and Mercury white marble sculptures were realized in 1702 by Antoine Coysevox after an order of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, to be put in Marly gardens, on both sides of the Abreuvoir basin. There were then moved in June 1719 to the entrance of Tuileries garden where there remained till their entry to the Louvre in 1986.

In the first part of the 18th Century, a lot of reduced reproductions were realized in bronze, like the one of Auguste le Fort in 1715.

Our pair of Sculptures has the particularity of being realized in lead, the only one to be listed to this day.

Ref. 1194