Antique Dieppe Carved Ivory Cavalier Statue, French Sculpture on Ebonized Wood Plinth

$695.00

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There is a chance this is a Dutch carving instead, but many of these beautifully crafted figures on raised plinth as you see here came from the artisans of the Western France seaport village of Dieppe, and the sill of the carvers there carries forth such heritage as to be simply and reverentially referred to as simply "Dieppe" - synonymous with elegant carved detail in small decorative items, crucifix, jewelry items from 1600s onward. The town of Dieppe was the primary seaport supplying the ditty of Paris for many centuries, and exotic goods from around the world entered there. Long sea voyages meant hours available for carving and so many of the sailors aboard took to the craft and found a ready market for the finest among them as luxury trinkets, snuff boxes, and etc., found a market among the elite French and Europeans. Eventually a village of old sailors and carving artists populated the port town and the industry grew among them. To note an item is 'Dieppe' now is to know that the fine quality is certainly evident. I believe this is a Dieppe cavalier figure dating to aryl 1800s, when the art tastes ran to cavalier and eastern themes. A most famous artist working at that time would have been Messoniere, whose work in his own lifetime gained him fame and fortune. Suplanted by the Impressionist movement in mid-1800s, Messoniere and others in the realist movement his work embodied were mostly relegated to back rooms at museums, if collected at all. But the cavaliers remain as a nod to that early half century, 1800-1850.

Very good to excellent condition for age and type, without any chips or cracks and no hairlines of age to be considered.I apologize for the bit of dinge still clinging to him here or there in recesses. Cleaning these too much ahead of photos makes the detail of the carving not quite as nicely captured in images, however, so it is on purpose we leave just bit. The carving of the cavalier is 3.25" tall and on the plinth, he rises to 5.75". Wonderful attention to detail in his moustache, boots, clothing, to include the embroidered anchor on his sash.

IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don't hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we're totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.

Our offering exceeds the age limitation of "more than 100 years of age", and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.

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