Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
Claude-André Deseine
(French, 1740–1823)
Duc d'Orleans Manufactory
(French (Paris), 1784–1828)
About 1791–92
Object PlaceParis, France
Medium/TechniqueHard-paste biscuit porcelain; socle of hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilded decoration
DimensionsOverall: 81.3 × 53.3 × 38.1 cm (32 × 21 × 15 in.)
Credit LineWilliam Francis Warden Fund
Accession number1978.47a-b
On View
On viewClassificationsCeramics
Collections
A gifted orator, Mirabeau (1749-1791) played a pivotal role in the politics or revolutionary France and advocated the establishment of a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic. This bust is based on a plaster model commissioned by the Jacobins, his political party, after his death. Few porcelain versions were made because of the technical difficulties of firing works of this scale. This bust is remarkable for it dramatic pose and the realistic description of Mirabeau's face, scarred by small pox.
InscriptionsOn the base is inscribed Mirabeau's reply to the royalist M. de Breze, who ordered the members of the National Assembly to disperse: "Allez dire a ceux qui vous envoyent/ que nous sommes icy par la Volonte du peuple/ Et que nous n'en Sortirons que par la force des Bayonettes [Go tell those who send you that we are here by the will of the people and that we will only leave here by the force of bayonets]".ProvenanceBy 1978, with Fabius Frères Antiquaires, Paris; 1978, sold by Fabius Frères Antiquaires to the MFA. (Accession date: February 16, 1978)
about 1800
