Wonderful Small French Art Deco Spelter Sculpture of a Young Doe at Pause but with ears Alert

THE STORY - I walked into a Shop on a visit to my Father selling French Brocante, not really expecting to find something that spoke to me, but simply because I cannot walk past a new shop selling items from the past and my goodness am I glad I did, because there was this little Girl sitting on the top shelf and she spoke to me very loudly. I believe she is a young female Deer, a Doe, and she is French, dating to the 1930s and for me she is a lovely example of the Art Deco Period where stylised sculptures of animals were popular with maybe Francois Pompon's Polar Bear being the most famous. She has the wonderful clean stylised lines one would expect from this period. She is made from Spelter which has a coat of lacquer of some sort which is of the most wonderful Verdigris colour (making me think of The Statue Liberty) and she stands on a natural stone base which I think must be Marble, which is predominately dark grey in colour but which has veins of brown and white running through it. And for me the two most wonderful things about this small sculpture is first of all the animation of her head with her ears alert, head slightly turned, neck high and at attention and the second is the size of the piece, it measures approximately 20cm in length, so I think too big for a book end and also I think likely to be too big to be part of pair, her size is just enough to command attention and hold her own amongst others, but not too big that it wouldn't sit easily on a desk or a shelf.

AGE - Circa 1930

CONDITION - She is in good condition, there is some rubbing and wear to the coat of verdigris lacquer this is mainly to front body which can best be seen in the final photograph with little specks missing. The marble base does have a little chip at the corner of the front back which can best be seen in the eighth photo, but it is small so it is not too obvious. She is still strongly fixed to the base but I do wonder if the base did originally have felt on it to prevent it scratching the furniture it sat on, I have to say the underside is pretty smooth but I think it would be best not to stand in directly on to a surface just in case. And finally she is pretty heavy and it is for this reason I am unable to offer free postage.

DIMENSIONS (Approx) - Length 8" / 20cm, Height 7" / 18cm, Depth 3" / 7.5cm

As I finish writing this little piece I look across the room at her and have to admit that I find something both pleasing and calming in her even though I can only see her in silhouette. But then of course when in light and close up we have darling face, that wonderful verdigris colour and those beautiful clean lines to appreciate too. She really is a lovely piece.