Couple of morillos; France, c. 1880.

Pair of morels; France, c. 1880.
Patinated bronze, gilded bronze and granite mount.
Measurements: 26 x 29 x 13 cm.

Executed in patinated bronze and arranged on granite bases with gilded bronze mount, the pieces take the form of recumbent female sphinxes. Each morillo presents a zoomorphic body of powerful volumetry, with leonine resonances and a veiled female head, with idealized features and serene expression.
The plinth, of sober lines and balanced proportions, ends in a gilded bronze molding decorated with a frieze of ovals, an ornamental element of classical filiation that reinforces the archaeological imprint of the whole. From an iconographic point of view, the choice of the sphinx is part of the fascination with the ancient Orient and Pharaonic Egypt that intensified in Europe during the 19th century, especially after the Napoleonic campaigns and the development of Egyptology. In France, this trend translated into a decorative repertoire that reinterpreted ancient motifs through the academic and ornamental prism of the Second Empire and its subsequent extensions. The sphinx, a hybrid creature associated with mystery and custody, is particularly appropriate for the typology of the morillo, a functional object intended to hold firewood in the fireplace, but also conceived as a representational element in bourgeois interiors.