Dogs with game
Christophe Fratin (Metz 1800 - Le Raincy 1864)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1851 - circa 1880
Materials
Painted cast iron
Measurements
830 x 970 x 300 mm
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436806
Summary
Painted cast iron, a pair of dogs with game, Christophe Fratin (1801-1864), cast by Coalbrookdale Company, c.1851-80. A pair of cast iron dogs painted black, one a setter with a dead pigeon, the other a greyhound with dead hare. Designed by Christophe Fratin, cast by Coalbrookdale. Setter stamped ‘FRATIN’ at centre foreground.
Full description
The son of a taxidermist, Christophe Fratin was a noted sculptor in the animalier style. He began exhibiting at the French Salon in 1831, showing ‘Farmer’, a wax model of an English thoroughbred, and a study in wax of two bulldogs fighting over a hare. Fratin was one of several designers employed by the prolific Shropshire iron and bronze foundry Coakbrookdale, which cast this pair of dogs in iron. The greyhound and setter pair were displayed by Coalbrookdale at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and appear in the company's catalogues of 1875 and 1877 (nos. 159-160). The Belton pair were originally at Ashridge, the Hertfordshire seat of the Earls Brownlow until 1921 (they can be seen in a photograph flanking the fireplace of the entrance hall at Ashridge, reproduced Country Life, 13 August 1921, p. 192). A greyhound with hare cast in bronze, similar but not identical to this painted cast iron model, is at The Argory (NT 565213). It is signed and dated 1835 and bears the mark of Quesnel foundry, which operated in Paris between 1811 and 1847. The Argory greyhound is paired with a chained mastiff (NT 565214), signed and dated 1832 with the foundry mark of E Questriel. Alice Rylance-Watson October 2018
Provenance
Formerly at Ashridge; purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1994)
Makers and roles
Christophe Fratin (Metz 1800 - Le Raincy 1864), sculptor Coalbrookdale Co Ltd, founder
References
Poletti and Richarme 2000: Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, Fratin : objets décoratifs & sculptures romantiques, Univers du bronze sculptures XIXe & XXe Paris 2000 Bolton 1921: Arthur T. Bolton, 'Ashridge Park - II. Hertfordshire, A Seat of Lord Brownlow', Country Life, August 13, 1921, pp. 192-8.