A Late 18thC Brussels Faience Model of a Lion c.1780

SOLD
Origin: Flemish
Period: Late 18thC
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1780
Height: 5.5”
Width: 9”
Depth: 5.5” (all at extremities)

The very scarce Brussels faience tin glazed earthenware model of a lion, painted predominantly in yellow and light blue with manganese and red detailing, survives from the last quarter of eighteenth century Belgium.

The piece remains complete but there have been damages through the years. One piece of the base has been broken out and re-applied with small losses and chips around base and the tail has been restored. We have priced the piece accordingly and an almost identical lion with similar deficiencies sold in Belgium at auction in 2016 for €1,402,50, which is the only other example we can find and may well have been the other to complete this as the pair.

Faience, or tin-glazed and enamelled earthenware, first emerged in France during the sixteenth century, reaching widespread usage among elite patrons during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, prior to the establishment of soft-paste porcelain factories.

A rare and delightful piece.
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