E. Beckmann - Sculpture, Hahnenmensch - 37 cm - Patinated bronze

Anthropomorphic bronze sculpture depicting a hybrid figure combining a human body with the head of a rooster. The figure is conceived in a strictly frontal, emblematic stance, standing on a group of ornamented spheres resting on a stepped circular base. The human torso with stylised wings is combined with strongly simplified animal features, resulting in a powerful, allegorical presence rather than a narrative scene.
The sculpture belongs to the tradition of German and Central European decorative bronzes of the late 19th century, particularly the production of art foundries and design workshops associated with Kunstgewerbeschulen around 1890–1910. Such hybrid and grotesque figures were intended as autonomous interior sculptures, serving as symbolic and decorative focal points in bourgeois interiors.
Technically, the work is executed as a hollow cast bronze, with visible chaplets and an untreated interior surface, consistent with production around the turn of the century. The discreetly stamped signature “E. Beckmann” on the base is to be understood as a designer’s or workshop mark, typical for art-industrial models of this period.
Details:
– Material: Bronze (hollow cast)
– Origin: Germany or Central Europe
– Date: circa 1890–1910
– Signature: stamped “E. Beckmann”
– Dimensions: height approx. 36–38 cm; depth approx. 25 cm; base diameter approx. 14 cm
– Condition: good original condition with natural patina; small age-related chip to the rooster’s comb


Anthropomorphic hermaphrodite figure (rooster-man)
Germany or Central Europe, around 1890–1910
Bronze, hollow-cast, dark patinated
Signed: E. Beckmann (stamped)
Dimensions:
Height approx. 36–38 cm
Depth approx. 25 cm
Socket diameter approx. 14 cm

Allegorical bronze sculpture in the shape of an anthropomorphic hybrid figure with a human body and a rooster's head. The frontal-design figure stands in a self-assured stance on ornamental spherical forms that rest on a stepped round plinth. The human upper body with tense arms and abstracted wings merges in a taut connection with the animal attributes of the rooster, whose head and plumage are stylized and emblematic.
The composition is deliberately symmetrical and iconic in design and avoids a clearly mythological attribution. Instead, the figure belongs to the tradition of decorative-arts grotesques and fantasy figures of the late 19th century, as they emerged in the milieu of German arts and crafts schools and ornamental foundries. Such hybrid beings served less as narrative representation and more as symbolic presence, and were designed as representative solitary objects for bourgeois interiors.
The technically high-quality hollow casting with visible core supports (chaplets), as well as the unfinished inner surface, indicate a creation around the turn of the century. The unobtrusively placed signature "E. Beckmann" should be understood as a design or workshop designation, as was common in the decorative arts context of that time.
The bronze stands out for its rare iconography, its relatively large format, and its powerful, cohesive appearance, and it represents a characteristic example of the allegorical-fantastic decorative arts of late Historicism.

Neutral / museum-like:
Good age-related condition with original patina; minor age-related damage to the rooster’s comb.