A George III sculpted wax relief of Venus with a Dolphin

A George III sculpted wax relief of Venus with a Dolphin, early 19th century, some elements in the round, portrayed standing with her weight on her left leg, drapery held to her shoulder in her right hand and falling behind her, the dolphin at her feet with a rising tail; all atop a waisted plinth, on an integrally moulded rectangular backplate

19cm high, 11cm wide

Mounted, glazed and framed within an ebonised wall display case, the paper lining within inscribed in ink 'Cleaned Thursday 26 Feby 1824'

26cm high, 18cm wide, 5cm deep

CATALOGUE NOTES:

Depictions of Venus in this pose and with the dolphin, were by the later 18th century of a fairly generic type, but were influenced in earlier days by examples such as the Mazarin Venus, now held at the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles (object number 54.AA.11). This Roman marble copy of a Praxitelean type has a similar stance, distracted and looking elsewhere, the drapery being very much present but covering nothing, and all suggestive of surprised nudity and coy eroticism

Condition Report: The wax itself is in good order, having presumably been kept within the glazed case for the greater part of its existence. There really is nothing much to add about it.

The frame is knocked, scuffed, split and scratched overall consistent with age. It is structurally perfectly stable though.

The deal backing has been held on with brown paper tape. This has now worn through and flaked away, so the backing is not secured.

Further to the inscription within, as catalogued, the deal backing is further inscribed 'Opened and cleaned by JBT, August 31st 1910'