1056 - Standing horse on rectangular base, terracotta, maquette of an animal sculpture, monogrammed

Standing horse on rectangular base, terracotta, maquette of an animal sculpture, monogrammed Terracotta, red-brown, standing horse on a flat rectangular plinth, incised ligated monogram "AKS" on the side of the plinth, maquette, short sculpted mane, tail lying close to the body, surface modelled with spatula and finger marks, in good condition commensurate with age, legs and neck cracked, base slightly chipped, 21.5x21.5x7 cm (HxWxD). 360-degree photo available on our website. A maquette is the scale model or rough draft of a sculpture; the Italian counterpart is the bozzetto, the first sketch-like model for a figure, made of easily worked material such as clay, plaster or wax. Such models serve to test form and idea before the work is made at full size; Bernini already made his models of wax or fired terracotta. In the 20th century animal sculpture became a genre of its own, shaped in Germany by August Gaul, Renée Sintenis, Gerhard Marcks and Ewald Mataré, who sought the nature of the animal rather than a mythological interpretation. As a bozzetto, the terracotta horse sculpture belongs to the preliminary stages of this animal sculpture.