La Joueuse de boules (the ball player)

Details

Jean Léon Gérôme (French, 1824-1904)
La Joueuse de boules (the ball player)
inscribed 'J.L.Gérome' (to the front) and stamped 'SIOT-PARIS' (to the reverse) and 'Z201' (on the base)
gilt bronze on onyx plinth
21 in. (53.4 cm.) high, excluding plinth
Executed in 1902.

Literature

G. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean Léon Gérôme, Paris, 1986, pp. 326-7, no. S.57.

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Lot Essay

Exhibited in 1902, Joueuse de boules shows a nude playing a game of Gérôme's invention where balls must be dropped into the open mouths of the masques below, without the player moving her feet. This twists the figure into a sinuous and elegant pose. According to Gerald Ackerman, the Siot-Decauville foundry cast bronze versions in three different sizes.

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