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Biscuit sculpture signed by the Manufacture de Nast* representing Psyche** and Cupid (known as Love) kissing, from the 19th century.
This sculpture is in good condition and is of remarkable quality. It is very decorative. Signed on the back.
Please note: a wing was broken then restored in several places (see red arrows), some tiny accidents, slight dirt and wear from time, take a good look at the photos.
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also known as the Popincourt Street factory, is a hard porcelain factory taken over in 1783 in Paris by Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast, an Austrian emigrant who became a naturalized French citizen.
Nast's porcelain is characterized by the exceptional quality of its paste, which combines whiteness and hardness. In 1796, he obtained a first distinction at the Exhibition of French Industrial Products. From 1800, he became the supplier of the new ruling class and in 1806 obtained the silver medal at the Exhibition of French Industrial Products. In 1810, he obtained a second patent for the manufacture of a porcelain paste that he used for "medallion borders and relief figures". This technique allowed him to excel in the creation of busts inspired by his friend and collaborator, the sculptor Augustin Pajou (1730-1809). In 1816, Nast was at the height of his glory and created a tea and coffee service for the wedding of Ferdinand VII of Spain and Isabella of Braganza, now preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Madrid. The passing of the torch appeared particularly successful and at the Exhibition of French Industrial Products in 1819, King Louis XVIII praised the qualities of the Nast brothers: "I see with pleasure the talent passed from father to son; I urge you to cultivate it". They obtained a gold medal that year and in the following years. The brothers continued their father's work and excelled in particular in the production of large vases.
A king had three daughters, the youngest of whom, Psyche, was so beautiful that she was compared to Venus herself, whom she would have equaled and even surpassed. Venus, jealous and furious at this comparison, charged her son Cupid with making her love the ugliest man on earth by striking Psyche with one of his arrows. But seeing her, Cupid fell in love with her and charged Zephyr – god of the west wind – to take her to his enchanted palace. No living being lived there and it was only at night, in the dark, that Cupid joined her in her bed, forbidding her to see him. Bored alone in this palace, Psyche obtained from Cupid the permission to send for her two sisters. They persuaded their sister to ignore this prohibition and see what kind of monstrous being manifested only in the dark. One night, Psyche lit a lamp and, troubled by the beauty of the sleeping young man, dropped a drop of burning oil on him. Awakened and betrayed, Cupid flew away to join his mother, confessing his betrayal, leaving Psyche alone in the palace. Desperate, Psyche searched everywhere for her lover and finally turned to Venus herself, who, bent on revenge, kept her in slavery and imposed four apparently insurmountable trials on her. But Cupid's friends came to her aid; ants helped her sort through mixed seeds, which had to bring back the wool of man-eating sheep; a reed advised her to shear them while they slept. An eagle drew water for her from the Styx, the river of the Underworld. Finally, to finish, Venus ordered her to go down to the Underworld to bring her a bottle containing a beauty ointment held by Proserpine. Convinced that she would not be able to accomplish this last test, she was going to throw herself from the top of a tower, but the latter gave her some judicious advice: to give Cerberus, the three-headed dog and guardian of the Underworld, a cake impregnated with sleeping pills, to bring two obols to pay Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx, on the way there and back, and to Proserpine, not to sit down and not to eat, failing which she would remain eternally Below. Above all, she was not to open the bottle that the goddess gave her under any circumstances! But on the way back, wanting to try the beauty ointment intended for Venus, she opened the bottle, and breathing the deadly smoke that came out of it, she died. Cupid, forgiven by his mother, went in search of her, and finding her dead, resuscitated her with one of his arrows. He took her to Olympus, where Jupiter (Zeus) himself celebrated their union, from which their daughter Volupté was born.
