Daniel Chester French
Imposing on Good Nature

Public Domain

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Images(2)

ArtistBased on designs by Daniel Chester FrenchAmerican, 1850–1931

Maker Robinson & LeadbeaterEnglish, active c.1860–1924

RetailerCopyrighted by Clark, Plympton & Co.Boston

CultureEnglish

Titles

Imposing on Good Nature

Date1872

Made inStoke-on-Trent, England

MediumPorcelain (parian ware)

Dimensions5 × 9 3/4 × 4 1/2 in. (12.7 × 24.8 × 11.4 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by John H. Adger, M. Robert Dussler, Harry Gee, R. Cary McNair, Jamey Rootes, Scott Schwinger, Marc Shapiro, Rick Smith, and Joe Sutton in honor of Robert C. McNair and the Houston Texans at "One Great Night in November, 2010"

Object numberB.2011.3.1

Current Location

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Belter Parlor

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

CERAMICS

DescriptionThis handsome pair of porcelain figures, Imposing on Good Nature and Retribution, is among the earliest surviving work by Daniel Chester French. Recognized today as one of the nation’s preeminent sculptors, he is most famous for Abraham Lincoln, the monumental sculpture commissioned for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. These beguiling figures were modeled for reproduction in parian, an unglazed porcelain that closely resembles the appearance and texture of marble. In Imposing on Good Nature, a small dog taunts a much larger but good natured canine; in the companion composition, Retribution, the larger dog has assumed a playful revenge.
Provenance[The Stradlings, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2011.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Engraved on the front of the base: "IMPOSING ON GOOD NATURE"

Engraved on the back of the base: "D.C. FRENCH"

English Registry mark on grassy ground, by larger dog's left leg: "IV / 2 / 2 Rd I / I"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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