TORCH DOOR AT THE NYMPH France, circa 1840 Bronze H. 162 cm, D. : 40 cm This bronze sculpture presents a female figure dressed in antique style, in contrapposto. With a distracted gesture, absorbed in the contemplation of the horn that she holds firmly in her right hand above her head, she undoes her tunic which, falling straight down in tubular folds, reveals her chest and the left leg on which she is leaning. The subject of our torchbearer differs from traditional mythological or allegorical themes where the figure carries a cornucopia. This is a rhyton, a drinking vessel in the shape of a horn ending in the head of an animal, in this case a dog with an elongated snout. This fine bloodhound and the tiara on our nymph's head refer to the hunting world of Diana and her companions (fig. 1). One of Diana's companions is standing in a posture similar to that of our nymph, with her arm in the air and her gaze raised. Made by Anselme Flamen (Saint-Omer, 1647-Paris, 1717) to crown the Fountain of the Nymph in the park of the Château de Marly, its pedestal was to be supported by two consoles with dog heads (fi g. 2).