{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1614030"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1614030/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022ND6883/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022ND6883/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2022ND6883","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022ND6884","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022ND6870","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022ND6885","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022ND6871","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022ND6872","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022ND6873","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1614030/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1614030","accessionNumber":"A.1-2022","objectType":"Statuette","titles":[{"title":"Cleopatra Dying","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"‘Sculptor to the princes’ Henri-Joseph-François (Henry) Baron de Triqueti (1803-1874) was among the foremost sculptors of the nineteenth century, obtaining prestigious commissions from the French and British royal families. Triqueti scholar Richard Dagorne identifies two phases in the career of the artist: the “French” phase (1831-48), when Triqueti obtained the patronage of King Louis-Philippe and became official sculptor of the July Monarchy, and the “English” phase (1849-his death), when Triqueti turned to England in search of new patrons after the Revolution of 1848 overthrew the French crown.  ‘Cleopatra Dying’ is emblematic of this period and production.\r\n‘Cleopatra Dying’ represents the suicide of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra after her and her Roman lover Mark Antony’s defeat at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. A masterpiece of Triqueti’s work in ivory and bronze, the statuette was made for the British market. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert saw Cleopatra when it was exhibited at Colnaghi’s in June 1859, and in June 1860 with the Vase of Dreams (1860, now presumed lost), and two other ivory statuettes. Both viewings were widely reported in court circulars in London, regional and national press. The statuette was reviewed to critical acclaim. \r\nThe Welsh industrialist and art collector Sir Ivor Guest (1835-1914) soon acquired Cleopatra. It was displayed in his Canford Manor home and remained in his possession, and that of his widow and descendants, until 1927. Until the statuette resurfaced at auction in 2019, it was only known from literature contemporary to Triqueti’s time, its terracotta model (1851, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans) and preparatory drawings (Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris). \r\n‘Cleopatra’ shows the artist’s eclectic style, influences and interests. The piece’s polychromy, now largely lost (Cleopatra’s dress and ornaments were originally enhanced with touches of gold and colour) evokes the Chryselephantine - ivory and gold - statuary of Phidias, the most celebrated sculptor of Greek antiquity.  The pose and chair are drawn from ‘Ariadne Sleeping’ (formerly known as ‘Cleopatra’), a marble second-century CE Roman copy of a Greek original in the Vatican, and the ‘Death of Phaedra’, a drawing by Triqueti’s early mentor, neoclassical painter Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson (1801, Musée du Louvre). This pose is also seen in ‘the dream of the young woman’, one of the four scenes on the Vase of Dreams. The chair’s exquisite casting and decorative detail evoke his attraction for the Renaissance, recalling elements of Andrea Riccio’s style. \r\nTriqueti recruited master craftsmen (probably from Dieppe) to translate his terracotta model into this exquisitely carved ivory. The outstanding bronze casting is almost certainly executed by the reputed French firm Eck and Durand. \r\nA masterpiece of Triqueti’s domestic work, ‘Cleopatra’ epitomizes the rich network of patronage between France and England, British collecting of mid- to late nineteenth-century French sculpture, and the Victorian taste for eclecticism, sentimental pieces and work in ivory.\r\n","physicalDescription":"The statuette represents the suicide of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra after her and her Roman lover Mark Antony’s defeat by the army of Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. The ivory queen is seen expiring as she takes her last breath, bitten by an asp still coiled around her left arm. She falls back limply onto her throne, her neck stretched out, head to the side, lips slightly parted, her loose dress revealing a breast. In a last burst of life, she clasps the folds of her gown in her right hand; figs are tumbling from a wicker basket to her side. Cleopatra’s throne, cast in bronze, is adorned with winged lion legs, putti straddling dolphins, foliage and geometric patterns.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"de Triqueti, Henri Baron","id":"A30096"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"},{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"},{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved ivory and cast bronze on a marble and ebony base, with traces of polychromy and gilding","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Death","id":"THES48970"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2022ND6883","2022ND6884","2022ND6870","2022ND6885","2022ND6871","2022ND6872","2022ND6873"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"21A","id":"THES49844"},"free":"","case":"SWPillar","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":"x45409"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"The ivory was probably carved in Dieppe"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1859","earliest":"1859-01-01","latest":"1859-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with support from the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation, Art Fund, Henry Moore Foundation, W.L. Hildburgh Bequest, The Crescent Trust, Bowman Sculpture, Daniel Katz MBE, Horn Bequest and The Decorative Arts Society 40th Anniversary Fund.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Weight","value":"18","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"38","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"51","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"24.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"21.45","unit":"kg","qualifier":"Weight with mount","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Signed and dated, on the figure's tiara: \"H * DE * TRIQUETI * 1859\"  ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Made by Henri (Henry) de Triqueti in 1859. Exhibited at Colnaghi's London, June 1859 and June 1860. Purchased by Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, (later) 1st Baron Wimborne (1835–1914), in about 1862, and kept at Canford House, from then until his death; his widow, Lady Cornelia (Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill) Guest (1847–1927), at Merly House, Wimborne, until her death; Ivor Churchill Guest (1873–1939), 1st Viscount Wimborne, at Merly House; Sold at auction by Puttick & Simpson, Merly House, 9 June 1927, drawing room, p. 23, lot 260, where it was purchased by “Holliday”, presumably James Richardson Holliday (1840–1927); private collection, estate near Newark, bought between the 1960s and 1980s; private collection, United Kingdom; sold at auction, Bamfords Derby, lot. 1244, 23 January 2019, and purchased by Tulissio Antiques Ltd, from whom the Museum acquired this object. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Statuette of Cleopatra Dying, by Henri (Henry) de Triqueti, 1859, ivory and bronze on a marble base, French, nineteenth century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Letter from Henri de Triqueti to Austen Henry Layard, Layard Papers,  British Library, 24 June 1860 (Add Ms. 38989, f.141). "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Austen Henry Layard, ‘Art in ivory’, Once a Week: An Illustrated Miscellany, vol. III, 4 August 1860, pp.161-164."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Sylvain Bellenger's 'Henri de Triqueti et Angleterre', in La Sculture: Studi in onore di Andrew Ciechanowiecki, Antologia di Belle Arti, Turin, 1997, pp. 183-200 (no. 18 p.198)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Isabelle Leroy-Jay Lemaistre et al, Henry de Triqueti, 1803-1874: Le Sculpteur des princes, exhibition catalogue, Orléans (Musée des Beaux-Arts) and Montargis (Musée Girodet), Paris, 2007. (Orléans and Paris 2007)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Edward Morris, French Art in Nineteenth-Century Britain, 2005"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Cleopatra VII Philopator","id":"N52"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.1-2022"],"accessionNumberNum":"1","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":2022,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2022NC9236","2022ND7845","2023NL9087"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2021-05-04","availableToBook":false}}