Wednesday, 14 October 2026
A bronze Statuette of a Nubian Boy.
A Bronze
Statuette of an Adolescent Nubian.
Presumed 19th Century.
Height 20 cms.
The Chalon-sur-Saône Bronze Statuette of a
Nubian Boy.
The images here do not show the fractures above the ankles.
The Sienna marble plinth block is not original – it is not obvious when it was
added. I suspect that it is very recent
It was recently exhibited at the Exhibition at the Royal
Academy – Bronze -15 September - 9 December 2012.
The original bronze illustrated above is in the Bibliothèque National Francais, Paris -
Inventory no. Bronze.1009.
Height 20.2 cm.
https://medaillesetantiques.bnf.fr/ws/catalogue/app/collection/record/ark:/12148/c33gbgkwq
for a discussion as to the origin of this bronze see - https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1993_num_95_1_4527
During the summer of 1763, a peasant discovered in his
vineyards near Chalon-sur-Saône (Burgundy) a wooden box, buried very close to
the surface of the ground, containing 18 bronze figurines, 14 of which were
entered into the Cabinet des Médailles (https://urlz.fr/aPh7); another
statuette representing a young black man is now kept in the Boston Museum. The
set was given to the Bishop of Chalon. He first entrusted them to the Count du
Caylus for study, then agreed to exchange them with the latter for books.
Caylus published them in the last
volume of the Recueil d'Antiquités, published after his death (volume VII, pp.
279-286, pl. LXXIX-LXXXI) and, in his will, bequeathed the collection to the Cabinet
du Roi upon his death in 1765, along with all that remained of his
archaeological collection.
In his Recueil d'Antiquités, Caylus notes that the oak
casket is too well preserved to be ancient and suggests that it is an
assemblage of bronzes gathered by a 17th-century collector and stored away.
The majority of the
bronzes in the find were Gallo-Roman, from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
Anne Claude de Tubières-Grimoard de Pestels de Lévis, comte
de Caylus, marquis d'Esternay, baron de Bransac (31
October 1692 – 5 September 1765).
From the 15th century, the rediscovery of ancient bronzes
led to a wholesale production of copies of the antique. Artists like Antico (Pier
Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi) would make this their specialty.
Until the study conducted in 1990 by Irène Aghion, as part
of the exhibition "True or False", the BNF bronze was considered the
perfect example of Hellenistic sculpture in Alexandria, a city founded in 331
BC by Alexander the Great.
In 1990, it was attributed to an Italian workshop around
1600 and considered a Renaissance bronze inspired by the antique.
However, a recent restoration calls this attribution into
question: the patina appears very ancient, as does the silver inlay technique
for the eyes, teeth, and toenails.
The jury remains out.
Illustration below from Caylus the Recueil d'Antiquités,
published after his death.
(volume VII, pp. 279-286, pl. LXXIX-LXXXI).
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b2000109x/f880.item.zoom
It should be noted that the feet have been added in the illustration which would sugges previous restoration.
Bibliography -
Le Mythe de Cléopâtre. Paris : 2014, p.144, n°77.
Snowden, F.M.. The Image of the Black in Western Art, from
the Pharaos to the Fall of the Roman Empire. Harvard University Press, 2010, p.
344, note 183.
Aghion, Irène. Caylus, mécène du roi. Collectionner les
antiquités au XVIIIè siècle. [cat.exp.]. Paris : 2002, p.143.
L’art de l’Antiquité 1, les origines de l’Europe. Paris :
Gallimard, 1995, fig.393, p.288-290.
Aghion, Irène. “Caylus au travail. A propos de la trouvaille
de Chalon”, Eutopia,II, 2. 1993.
Daumas, Michèle. "Le Nègre Caylus est-il vraiment un
faux ?" In: Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 95. Paris : 1993, p. 191-206.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1993_num_95_1_4527
Aghion, Irène, Hellmann, Marie-Christine. Vrai ou Faux?
Copier, imiter, falsifier [cat.exp.]. Paris : BnF, 1988, p.58-60.
Bronzes hellénistiques et romains. Tradition et renouveau.
Actes du Ve colloque international sur les bronzes antiques. Lausanne, 8-13 mai
1978. Paris : de Boccard, 1979, Claude Rolley, p.16-17, pl.2, fig.3-5.
Adriani, Achille. "Il Negretto di Chalon-sur-Saône e la
statuina Dimitriu", in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen
Instituts, Athenische Abteilung1, 93. Berlin : 1978, p.119-131, pl. 37-44.
Boucher, Stéphanie. Recherches sur les bronzes figurés de
Gaule pré-romaine et romaine. Rome : 1976, P. 183, pl.68, fig.325.
Armand-Calliat. Recherche sur les bronzes romains de
Fragnes, dans Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Chalon.
1925
Collection : null
Babelon, Ernest, Blanchet, Jules-Adrien. Catalogue des
Bronzes Antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale. Paris : 1895, p.439-440, n°1009,
fig.1009.
Chabouillet, Anatole. Catalogue général et raisonné des
camées et pierres gravées de la Bibliothèque impériale. Paris : 1858, n°3078.
Caylus, A.C de Tubières, comte de. Recueil d’ Antiquités
égyptiennes, étrusques, grecques et romaines. Paris : Desaint et Saillant,
entre 1752 et 1767, t.VII, p. 285, pl.LXXXI, n°3-5.
Kaufmann-Heinimann, Annemarie. Götter und Lararien aus
Augusta Raurica. Augst : 1998, p. 250, GF29, fig.202.
See also - Race in Greco-Roman Antiquity – Frank M. Snowden,
Jr. and ‘The Image of the Black in Western Art -
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