Date: Circa 1877
Production place: Choisy-Le-Roi earthenware factory (managed by Hippolyte Boulanger)
Materials and technics: Earthenware
Dimensions: D. 22 cm (bottom) ; D. 36 cm (top)
Inventory number: ODUT1914
Acquisition details: Purchased using interest from the Dutuit bequest, 2004
Room: not on display
The Titans Jardinière consists of a plinth decorated with four masculine figures on which sits a vase decorated with lizards and leaves.
The general composition of the vase can be attributed to Albert Carrier-Belleuse, the great ornamental sculptor of the second half of the nineteenth century, who employed Rodin in his workshop several times between 1864 and 1882. The powerful modelling of the four telamones and their poses in the manner of Michelangelo have encouraged some specialists to suggest that Rodin was the main creator of the plinth. The Titan jardinière has been compared to works dating from Rodin’s Brussels period such as the Monument to the Burgermeister Loos, with which there is a clear affinity.
Acquired by the Petit Palais in 2004, the Titans jardinière is one of three complete examples (including both plinth and bowl) held in public collections. Only two other known versions exist: one at the Museo Lazaro Galdiano in Madrid and the other at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
D. M.
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