Bronze Study of a Boy Collecting Fruit in His Wide Brimmed Hat

This is a bronze study of a boy collecting fruit in his wide brimmed hat, he is wearing a jerkin and breeches over a shirt rolled up at the sleeves, with one hand to his mouth and the other holding his upturned hat in which he has collected the fruit, impressed foundry stamp ‘A*D’. French, circa 1880. It is believed that the foundry mark is that of the fondeur Alfred Daubrée, an important dealer in “bronze art” and jewellery who retailed his own works but more commonly they were sold through intermediaries and hence unmarked. His foundry mark has been found on bronzes by such important artists as Fratin, Cumberworth and Jacquemart for example. The firm was founded in c.1850 and was based at 85 Rue Montmartre in Paris. According to Pierre Kjellberg in his Les Bronzes Du Xixe Siècle (1987), Daubrée was mentioned as one of the foremost fondeurs of his day at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. He died in 1885.