Bust of a girl (Flora?)

ca. 1840

Not on view

This ivory bust, with its beautifully rendered hair, is a tour-de-force in ivory carving. Sculpted out of a single tusk, the artist’s command of the precious medium is outstanding. The carver’s origin could be the seaport town of Dieppe in Normandy, one of the period’s creative centers of ivory sculpting. Dieppe was known throughout France and beyond for its longstanding tradition of ivory carving going back to the 17th century. The bust may represent Flora, the Roman goddess of flowering plants who is usually represented as a young woman wearing a crown-shaped floral arrangement similar in abundance to the flower crown on this bust.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Bust of a girl (Flora?)
Date: ca. 1840
Culture: French, possibly Dieppe
Medium: Ivory, carved and chiseled; socle: sodalite with molded bronze base (not original
Dimensions: Bust only, confirmed: 8 1/8 × 5 3/8 × 4 1/8 in. (20.6 × 13.7 × 10.5 cm)
on sodalite pedestal, assembled ht: 13 5/16 in. (33.8 cm)
Classification: Natural Substances-Ivory
Credit Line: Gift of Joyce Longworth and Lorna Kettaneh, in loving memory of their mother Mary Kettaneh, 2021
Object Number: 2021.107
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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