JEAN-LÉON GÉRÔME
French, 1824–1904

La Joueuse de Boules

Inscribed J.L. GÉROME
Stamped SIOT-DECAUVILLE FONDEUR/PARIS - K588
Gilt bronze
Height: 11 inches (27.9 cm), on a lapis blue colored hardstone base

La Joueuse de Boules, exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1902, was cast in marble, bronze, plaster and polychrome ivory. It depicts a nude playing an ancient game of Gérôme's invention, in the Néo-Grec tradition, in which 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. Gérôme painted two self-portraits at work on the large marble version of this subject, also in 1902, one of which is in the collection of the Musée Garret, Vesoul (Ackerman no. 474).

Literature
Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Paris, 2000, pp. 400-401, no. S. 57-B2, illustrated 

$9,500

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