'Bataille de Fleurs', marble group by Peyre

This superb marble group was sculpted by the French artist Charles Raphaël Peyre. Peyre, who was born in Paris in 1872 and died in 1949, trained with Alexandre Falguière and Antoine Mercié, two of the most celebrated sculptors active during the latter 19^th Century.

The present sculpture depicts a group of three putti playfully battling over flowers (hence the piece’s title, ‘Bataille de Fleurs’ or ‘Battle of the Flowers’). The composition is in many respects a playful adaption of the famous Roman sculpture ‘Laocoön and His Sons’. Each putto strikes a different pose, demonstrating Peyre’s skill at representing human anatomy in a naturalistic manner. Moreover, the poses evince great movement and action, lending a sense of animation to the piece. The marble throughout is superbly carved, with the slightest of details delicately rendered, including curls of hair, individual teeth, and the petals of each rose.

The group is mounted onto an oval base, which is set with a brass plaque inscribed ‘BATAILLE DE FLEURS / PAR R. CH. PEYRE / SALON 1910’, which indicates that an edition of this piece was submitted to the Paris Salon of that year.

The piece is raised on a black marble pedestal, the pedestal featuring a wide plateau, a fluted columnar shaft, and an octagonal base.

The marble is signed ‘R. Ch. Peyre’.

Marble: Height 63cm, width 46cm, depth 37cm
Pedestal: Height 104cm, width 56cm, depth 31cm
Total height: 167cm