Figure - Bronze

Viennese Bronze from the 1900s – Erotic Unveiling Figure (Attributed to Franz Xaver Bergmann Foundry)

Object description
Finely worked, multi-part Viennese bronze in the Oriental style (historicist / Art Nouveau), dated to the period around the 1900s. The piece shows a fully sculpted scene on a rectangular, richly patterned oriental rug with a fringed border: A young woman lies resting on a cushioned divan.

As a special feature and mark of quality, this is a so-called “unveiling bronze” (erotic bronze with mechanism/gag): The intricately chiselled bronze bedspread can be removed and reveals the view of the finely modeled, fully nude body of the sleeper.

Foundry & attribution
• Manufacturer / attribution: Franz Xaver Bergmann Foundry (Vienna)
• Marking: Stamped foundry mark (teapot/vase with B-signature) on the underside of the rug (heavily worn, digitally forensically detected).
• Material: Bronze, patinated and chiselled
• Dating: ca. 1890–1910

Dimensions & weight
• Rug base: 16.5 cm × 10.0 cm
• Figure: approx. 10.0 cm in length
• Total weight: 702 g

Condition
Very good, authentic condition for its age with a beautiful original patina. The fitted cover is complete and preserved in its original state. The foundry stamp on the unpolished underside is barely recognizable to the naked eye due to age-related wear, but its substance is detectable.

I am liquidating my collection.