OcUK detectives... Can you find any info on this miniature bronze statue?

Akagi · 12 Jul 2020 at 22:51

A great Uncle from Australia who was in the Navy left this small bronze Napoleon statue to my Nan in his will along with a load of other things...

I have tried to find out how old it is, or how much it might be worth, if anything, but haven't found anything.

There are tonnes of pictures of small bronze statues of Napoleon in this exact stance next to a pillar with his coat draped over it, but they all appear different to this one, different levels of detail in different places, etc...

https://imgur.com/a/sXJBw5Q

It has '3791' scratched into the bottom (I think) - And a signature of sorts on the side. Dubuy, Dupuy, Subuy, I dont know...

If you are bored and think your Google-Fu is stronger than mine... Help? Please?

I'm fairly sure by the quality of it and the level of detail that it is worthless, but my Nan seems to be under the illusion that it isn't.

Dis86 · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:02

Looks like a copy of https://www.garywrightantiques.co.u...of-napoleon-bonaparte/prod_10123#.XwuILB7TU0N

Akagi · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:04

Dis86 said:
Looks like a copy of https://www.garywrightantiques.co.u...of-napoleon-bonaparte/prod_10123#.XwuILB7TU0N

No it doesn't.

I've already spent an hour or so furiously looking into this, so don't paste a link of the first bronze statue you find which happens to depict the same guy in the same famous pose.

MouthBoy · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:05

I googled 'napoleon miniature bronze statue dubuy' and the first result came up with Dupuy Antiquities in Google, but the link does not link to the exact result.

https://www.proantic.com/en/sculpture-bronze.php?obj_epoque=all&obj_style=13&nbobjpage=60

Probably nothing.

Dis86 · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:07

Acme said:
No it doesn't.

I've already spent an hour or so furiously looking into this, so don't paste a link of the first bronze statue you find which happens to depict the same guy in the same famous pose.

It literally looks like a crap copy of it. Apparently the original is by emile guillemin and is of...napoleon.

Akagi · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:10

Dis86 said:
It literally looks like a crap copy of it. Apparently the original is by emile guillemin and is of...napoleon.

It is a statue of the same person in the same pose, but it doesn't follow the same styling. There are plenty which have him standing on a broinze platform next to a pillar with his coat draped over it.

It is a variation, a poor one granted, of this statue. There are tonnes of subtly different ones like this all over the place. eBay etc.

https://www.proantic.com/en/display.php?mode=obj&id=616404

Dis86 · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:12

Acme said:
Ah yes, the pillar with the coat draped over it and such must be invisible in the example you found

It is a variation, a poor one granted, of this statue. There are tonnes of subtly different ones like this all over the place. eBay etc.

https://www.proantic.com/en/display.php?mode=obj&id=616404

There are multiple variations. In some it's a tree stump.
As I say, the original sculptor is known.

Akagi · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:14

Dis86 said:
There are multiple variations. In some it's a tree stump.
As I say, the original sculptor is known.

It is a copy of the Emille Guillemin statue though yes. He did one that looks like the one in my pics. But with much more detail of course.

It is uniquely poor in its quality.

There are tonnes of different copies. But I can't find one as bad as this one.

Surveyor · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:24

Acme said:
There are tonnes of different copies. But I can't find one as bad as this one.

https://stewartsmilitaryantiques.com/french-small-bronze-statue-of-napoleon.33122.archive.htm

Akagi · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:37

Surveyor said:
https://stewartsmilitaryantiques.com/french-small-bronze-statue-of-napoleon.33122.archive.htm

Excellent.

Azza · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:39

Lots of different varients of that around by various artists. Most of the faces look hauntingly bad!

https://www.proantic.com/en/display.php?mode=obj&id=453441

https://www.art-bronze-sculptures.com/573/historic-bronze-figure-napoleon-bonaparte-sign.-milo

I think that one you have is done by an artist called Lawrence (or Laurence) Dupuy who is definitely a bronze sculptor but there's only really dancers on auction sites.

It doesn't help that a Dupuy went to Eygpt with Napoleon so most of the search results come back with that.

Akagi · 12 Jul 2020 at 23:48

So it is a Laurence Dupuy copy of a Emile Guillemin bronze sculpture.

We're getting close I think! Thanks.

Akagi · 19 Jul 2020 at 12:24

Any more help, detectives? Not convinced its a Laurence Dupuy statue because i can't find any other examples of it with that information, he seems to be known for just one statue of a cymbal dancer, which is a better quality piece than this, and the signature looks nothing alike.

Another Dupuy? Maybe a fake made in a shed with a random sculptors name engraved on the side?

Where are the wannabe antiques roadshow presenters?!