A large Viennese bronze bird model with marble base by Bergman

Marked for Bergman, this delightful animal sculpture depicts a woodcock and is made from cold-painted bronze, and is in turn mounted on a small marble base. Cold-painted bronze was a widespread technique in Austrian around the turn of the twentieth century, and is characteristic of Bergman's output, which can generally be divided between the Oriental, the erotic, and, depictions of animals and animalia.

His animal sculptures are often whimsical, humorous, and playful, as seen here, as the inquisitive and curious nature of the bird has been successfully conveyed by the manner of the bronze. Set on a marble base and made in Austria, c. 1910, for a point of comparison, this work is particularly interesting.