Bisque Ceramic Sculpture of Agathon Léonard’s ‘Danseuse Tambourin à Gauche’

Titled “La danse du tambourin, tête penchée à gauche” (or “The tambourine dance, head leaning to the left”), from the artist’s series “Le jeu d’écharpe,” this French Art Nouveau bisque ceramic sculpture by the great master Agathon Léonard hearkens back to the Renaissance sculptors of lore, who turned marble into flesh and fabric, just as Léonard does here with ceramic. Featuring a woman draped in stunningly rendered, rich cloth dress who holds a tambourine high above her head, her face turned away from the viewer as we catch her mid-motion, about to turn dramatically over her left shoulder.