$1,100
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Description
9" (23 cm.) The bisque busts, each with deeply sculpted curled short hair and facial features, including sculpted laughter or crying crinkles at the eye corners, painted row of tiny teeth, and well-detailed ears, are mounted on cobalt blue pedestals with gilt trim, that are attached to gilt and marbleized plinths with tiny ball feet. Condition: generally excellent. Comments: French, Sevres, circa 1880, representing "Jean Qui Rit" (John who laughs) and "Jean Qui Pleure" (John who cries), the storybook figures from the 1865 children's book of Comtesse de Segur. The models became so famous from this book that they were used in various presentations over the coming decades, in one instance as the faces of the double-faced bebe by Leon Casimir Bru. Value Points: wonderful historical storybook figures, this particular pair is notable for outstanding detail of sculpting and painting.