Camille Alaphilippe took a keen interest in the possibilities of ceramics during his stay at the Villa Medici in 1901.

In 1914, he would in fact become the manager of Alexandre Bigot’s fired stoneware factory in Mer (Loir-et-Cher), which mainly produced architectural ceramics.

Woman with Monkey consists of a daring assembly of gilt bronze elements (the head and hands) and pieces of enamelled stoneware mounted on a wood and iron structure and held together by a mortar of crushed brick, with joints in coloured plaster.

Hieratic and mysterious, the work owes as much to the symbolist image of the femme fatale holding an admirer in chains as to the neo-medieval inspiration that was special to its author.The ensemble forms a kind of giant art object, and the charm of its silhouette and its shimmering colours make us forget the technical prowess and ingenuity of this artist who deserves to be better known.

A. S.

City of Paris municipal collection's website

City of Paris municipal collection's website

The collections portal can be used to search the collections of Paris’s 14 municipal museums (approximately 336,000 works, including 43,000 belonging to the Petit Palais).

It is also possible to download around 12,000 images of the museum’s works free of charge.

Access the Museums of the City of Paris collections portal
Autre base documentaire

Extern databases

Discover a selection of databases online presenting works from the Petit Palais or documents concerning the history of the museum.