Charles Cordier (1827-1905) Jewess of Algiers Silvered and gilded bronze bust with blue and red enamel highlights Signed and dated " CORDIER 1862 ". H. 47 cm Charles Cordier was interested throughout his life in the study of human diversity. On his return from a stay in Algeria, the sculptor presented twelve busts of Algerians at the 1857 Salon, which embodied his studies combining ethnology and aesthetics. The artist pursued his ambition of an anthropological art, and his series of Algerians, by realizing in 1862 the Jewess of Algiers. Charles Cordier is committed to showing the public, after the abolition of slavery, "the ubiquity of beauty. Throughout his travels, Cordier, as a humanist, boldly overturns the preconceived notions of this conformist end of century to show the beautiful singularity of peoples around the world. Based on the "morphotype" studies he brought back from his travels, Charles Cordier created a series of sculptures combining polychrome marble, onyx, enamel, bronze and silver of great novelty and luxury. The artist's catalog raisonné lists nine versions, all different, of the Juive d'Alger. Our copy is probably reproduced under number 339. Related work: Charles Cordier, Juive d'Alger, 1872, enameled bronze, marble, gilding, and marble-onyx, H. 74 cm, Troyes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. n°D.879-2. Related literature: Christine Barthe, Laure De Margerie, Charles Cor- dier (1827-1905), L'autre et l'ailleurs, cat. exp., Paris, Musée d'Orsay, February 3-May 2, 2004, Paris, Ed. De la Martinière, 2004, models listed pp. 183-185.