A PAIR OF SEVRES BISCUIT PORCELAIN FIGURES OF CUPID AND PSYCHE ON COLUMNAR BASES, 'L'AMOUR MENACANT' AND 'LA NYMPHE FALCONET'

The figure of Cupid was originally conceived in plaster by Etienne- Maurice Falconet and exhibited at the Salon of 1755. Two years later, he completed a marble version for Madame de Pompadour. When he became director of the Sèvres porcelain factory in 1757, Falconet eventually adapted the model for execution in biscuit porcelain which became extremely popular. A figure of Psyche was conceived as a pendant in 1761, though it was never executed in marble. See M-N Villechenon, exhibition catalogue, Falconet à Sèvres ou l'art de plaire, Sèvres, Musée national de la Céramique, 2001, pg. 91 no. 4-5.