Le Chinois

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Carpeaux earned fame for crafting massive, multi-figure monuments and sculptural portraits commissioned by Napoleon III's court. He secured a 1867 commission to design a fountain for Paris' Luxembourg Gardens. The monument he designed, Four Parts of the World Holding the Celestial Sphere (also known as Fountain of the Observatory), completed in 1872, personified continents Africa, America, Asia, and Europe as women. Because he struggled to find a Chinese woman to model for the continent of Asia, he used a male model instead. This bust is based on an earlier sketch. Carpeaux pushed the boundaries of bronze with expressive surface textures and carefully controlled patina color variations for the garment, hair, and face. In contrast to traditional bust portraits, he created a dynamic, twisted posture using the serpentine braid to amplify its effect.