Project of terracotta andirons for child musicians, Paris around 1770

Pair of patinated terracotta decorated with child musicians.
On each rectangular plinth rest two young children, a boy and a girl.

On the one on the left is a chubby young boy simply dressed in a drape and holding two chopsticks in his hands.
He is about to strike the two drums on the back of the young girl who, on all fours, looks at him tenderly.

In the one on the right, a slightly older girl sits in a dress and holding a tambourine in her left hand, tenderly gazing at a chubby young boy who is about to blow a conch shell.

Great finesse of sculpture with beautifully rendered expressions.

Good condition, small one-handed use restorations.

French work circa 1770 attributed to the sculptor Louis-Félix de la Rue (1730-1777)

Our opinion :

Like his master Lambert Sigisbert Adam, Louis Félix de la Rue was to be greatly inspired throughout his career by the works of the painter François Boucher whom he met at the Academy of St Luc.
The chubby putti, tenderly drawn and sculpted with various attributes in small intimate scenes, represent the bulk of his production.
Even if the plinths and the composition of our terracotta herald the end of the rococo period, we can still date these works from the reign of Louis XV.
The size, the symmetry with the large figures on the exteriors and especially the absence of the rear part intended to receive the irons, allow us to affirm that this is a project of andirons.
Let us add to this that our sculptor worked enormously for the bronziers with in particular a model of a little girl present on a pair of candelabra from the same period, of which the Louvre museum has a copy (OA 5207) and whose subject of the boy is the work by sculptor Clodion.
Another subject representing a young boy blowing in a conch that can be found on pairs of candelabras made by Philippe Caffieri (1714-1774) is also attributable to him; it is also extremely close to our model.
Few of the terracotta sculptures dating from the old regime have survived to us, and even fewer in pairs.
The project we are presenting has a pleasant and particularly well finished subject; it is both a leading collector's item and a decorative ensemble that can enhance the top of a piece of furniture like that of a fireplace.
It is quite moving to be able to see on our works, the traces of fingers and tools of the sculptor or the weft of the linen which was used to keep the damp earth between the modeling sessions, nearly two and a half centuries ago.


Louis Félix de la Rue is a French sculptor born in Paris in 1731 and died in Paris in 1765.
He followed the teaching of Lambert Sigisbert Adam and won the Prix de Rome in 1750, after obtaining the second prize in 1749.
Before 1754, he executed small groups of children for the Manufacture de Sèvres.
At the Academy of Rome, he remained there only from 1754 to 1755, due to his inability to withstand the climate.
He was admitted to the Académie de Saint Luc in 1760.
He becomes assistant professor and professor of the Academy of Saint Luke.



Known works:

Kids clipboard. Porcelain enamel group. Sèvre (Hauts de Seine), City of Ceramics. 1754.
Bacchus with the panther. Terracotta. Sèvres (Hauts de Seine), City of Ceramics. 1754.
The miraculous healing of King Hezekiah. Bas-relief. 1749.
Abraham thanking God for returning Isaac to him. Bas-relief 1750.
A bacchante who intoxicates her children. 1754.
Group of children. (According to Boucher). Sèvres, City of Ceramics. 1754.
A River. Terracotta. Salon of the Academy of Saint Luke from 1762.
Small child in his cradle. Marble. Salon of the Academy of Saint Luke from 1762.
Children playing. Bas-relief in marble.
Six loves supporting a garland.
The Study. Marble figure.
An assembly of Greek philosophers. Terracotta bas-relief.
Two children arguing over fruit and grapes. Terracotta group.
Silenus seated surrounded by children and little satyrs. Terracotta group. (According to Boucher).
Three kids having fun with a goat. Terracotta group.
The Children of the Panther. Marble. Paris, Cognacq-Jay Museum.