Auguste Moreau

AUGUSTE MOREAU (France, 1834 - 1917).
Vase "Nymphs fishing in the lake", ca. 1890.
Silver-plated pewter.
Signed on one side.
Weight: 3,000 g.
Author and similar pieces referenced in the book by Philippe DAHHAN, Étains 1900, 200 Sculpteurs de la Belle Époque, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2000. p. 282 to 290.
Measurements: 37 x 20 x 20 cm.

Silver-plated pewter vase from the end of the 19th century, richly decorated in relief. The piece presents a fantasy scene with water nymphs playing and fishing for a mermaid in a lake. The design is complete with details of ducks, fish and lush plant ornaments.

Auguste Moreau was a French sculptor of the Moreau artistic dynasty. The son of painter Jean Baptiste Moreau and a disciple of his older brother Mathurin, he began his career at the Paris Salon of 1861 and exhibited regularly until 1913. As a member of the Société des Artistes Français, he cultivated a realistic and elegant style, focusing on genre, pastoral and allegorical subjects, following the family tradition. Although he specialized in bronze, he also worked in marble and sometimes combined it with gold. His work was in great demand and numerous editions of his pieces were made, appreciated by the public for their naturalism and grace, and distributed especially in the United States. Today, his sculptures are in important private collections and in Fine Arts Museums such as those of Bordeaux, Dijon, Gray and Reims.