Related products
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Lot 0017
Séraphin Soudbinine. Bust of Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky
Estimate: 12000-15000€
Lot 0017
Séraphin Soudbinine. Bust of Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky
Estimate: 12000-15000€Séraphin Soudbinine. Bust of Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky
Patinated bronze on marble base
Signed and dated on the bronze: Soudbinine 1912
Dimensions: 16 x 10.5 x 10 cm.
Comparable cast: Musée d’Orsay, Paris (inv. no. JP 143 S, Buste d’homme)This expressive bronze bust depicts Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky (1856–1919), a Russian statesman and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1906 to 1910 and later as Ambassador to France. The vigorous modeling and textured surface reflect Soudbinine’s transition from his early theatrical background to a mature sculptural language, marked by psychological depth and vitality.
Séraphin Soudbinine (born Serafim Nikolaevich Sudbinin) was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, in 1867. Originally an actor at the Moscow Art Theatre, he turned to sculpture after 1904, studying in Paris with Léon Bérard, Léopold-Sinaïeff Bernstein, and Jean-Antoine Injalbert. Supported by patron Savva Morozov, he quickly gained recognition for his portrait work.
Soudbinine’s sculptures were shown in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, Venice, and New York. He created portraits of prominent figures including Maxim Gorky, Fyodor Chaliapin, and Anna Pavlova. After the Russian Revolution, he remained in Paris, later working in ceramics. His works are held in major collections such as the Musée d’Orsay (Paris), the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), and the Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow).
Soudbinine died in Paris in 1944.
Starting price: 10000€
Estimate: 12000-15000€
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Lot 0018
Fedor Kovshenkov. A Rare Russian bust of Emperor Alexander I
Estimate: 2500-3000€
Lot 0018
Fedor Kovshenkov. A Rare Russian bust of Emperor Alexander I
Estimate: 2500-3000€Bust of Emperor Alexander I
Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, 1827
Author: Fedor Ivanovich Kovshenkov (1785–1850)
Bronze, casting, patination
Dimensions: 19.5 x 8.5 x 8.5 cm.This finely executed bust of Emperor Alexander I was created by Fedor Kovshenkov, a master bronzeworker who had once been a serf. In 1822, the Emperor himself recognized Kovshenkov’s talent and freed him from serfdom, appointing him as a bronze master during the construction of the Kazan Cathedral.
In 1826, as an expression of gratitude, Kovshenkov produced his first bust of Alexander I, and he returned to this theme multiple times throughout his career. Several examples in bronze and cast iron are preserved today in the State Russian Museum, alongside his busts of Emperor Nicholas I and Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich. A comparable piece is held in the State Literary-Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of Alexander Pushkin “Boldino” in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Fedor Ivanovich Kovshenkov (1785–1850)
Originally a serf, Kovshenkov’s exceptional skill in bronze chasing brought him to the attention of Emperor Alexander I, who liberated him. He went on to create portrait busts of members of the imperial family and other distinguished figures, establishing his reputation within the St. Petersburg artistic milieu of the first half of the 19th century.Starting price: 2000€
Estimate: 2500-3000€
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Lot 0013
Evgeny Lanceray. A Russian bronze composition “Little Kyrgyz or Bashkir the herdsman”
Estimate: 2000-3000€
Lot 0013
Evgeny Lanceray. A Russian bronze composition “Little Kyrgyz or Bashkir the herdsman”
Estimate: 2000-3000€Evgeny Lanceray. Little Kyrgyz (or Bashkir Herdsman)
Model 1879
Bronze. Dimensions: 19 × 23 × 10 cm
St. Petersburg, late 19th centuryThis bronze composition by Evgeny Lanceray represents a mounted Bashkir herdsman, shown in dynamic motion, holding a lasso in his hand. The work belongs to Lanceray’s celebrated ethnographic series, inspired by his extensive travels across Russia and its borderlands.
The model was created in 1879 but reflects impressions from an earlier journey to Bashkiria in the early 1870s. Like many of Lanceray’s works, The Bashkir Herdsman combines vivid ethnographic detail with the sculptor’s gift for narrative and movement, making it one of his best-known works of small-scale realist sculpture.
During the sculptor’s lifetime and in the late 19th century, the composition was cast at the Chopin and Shtange foundries in St. Petersburg. In the early 20th century, it was also reproduced without foundry marks, both by large firms such as the Moscow workshop of A. M. Postnikov and by smaller private foundries in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Starting price: 1500€
Estimate: 2000-3000€
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Lot 0005
Bronze Sculpture “The Gunsmith” by Adrien Gaudez (1845–1902)
Estimate: 3000-3500€
Lot 0005
Bronze Sculpture “The Gunsmith” by Adrien Gaudez (1845–1902)
Estimate: 3000-3500€Adrien Gaudez (1845–1902)
L’Armurier (The Gunsmith)
France, late 19th – early 20th century
Bronze
Height: 65 cmThis striking bronze sculpture, L’Armurier (“The Gunsmith”), is a masterful example of Adrien Gaudez’s ability to infuse technical realism with expressive vitality. The figure of a craftsman at work embodies both physical strength and concentration, capturing the dignity of manual labor and the artistry of creation.
A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Gaudez debuted at the Paris Salon in 1864 and continued to exhibit there throughout his career. Initially influenced by classical traditions, he later incorporated the fluid lines and naturalistic movement characteristic of late 19th-century French sculpture.
Following his imprisonment during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Gaudez produced several commemorative works, including a monument to fallen French soldiers (1892). His oeuvre encompasses portraits, allegorical figures, and monuments distinguished by meticulous modeling and emotional depth.
L’Armurier reflects Gaudez’s fascination with the nobility of craftsmanship — a recurring theme in his work — and stands as a testament to the transition from academic classicism to the more dynamic and expressive forms of the Belle Époque.
Starting price: 2500€
Estimate: 3000-3500€