Orientalist Vienna Bronze, Sculpture "Naked Woman" 951/25 Art Nouveau, ca 1900

...SOLD...

Gilded Vienna bronze representing a naked woman with a necklace and bracelet laying on a polychrome oriental carpet.
In its original condition, original patina, sculpture from the Art Nouveau period ca 1900.
Rare and unrestored item.
Referenced 951/25 in the catalog "Bronzes de Viennes" Ernst Hrabalek in Pg 158. (see photos), attributed to Franz Xavier Bergman.

Biography:
Franz Bergmann (1861–1936) was the owner of a Viennese foundry which produced numerous miniature sculptures depicting oriental, erotic and animal figures patinated in bronze (fanciful, humorous humanized works of art).
His father came to Vienna and founded a small bronze factory in 1860. Franz Xaver Bergmann inherited the business and opened a new foundry in 1900. Many bronzes from the 1900s were still based on designs by the his father's workshop. His workshops employed, on a temporary basis, many anonymous sculptors including Bruno Zach who asked Bergmann to edit and cast some of his works, including some erotics signed "Prof. Tuch", a pseudonym used by Zach.
At the turn of the 19th century, there were around fifty similar workshops in Vienna producing 'Viennese bronzes'. “Cold painted bronze” refers to pieces cast and then decorated in several layers with so-called dust paint, usually made by women working at home.
The sensual poses of young women in the Art Nouveau or Oriental style were discreetly disguised by clothes or drapes which revealed themselves when a button was pushed or a lever moved .... Many animals such as signs musicians, hares, bears, foxes, frogs ... made the fame of these factories.
Other sculptor artists. also worked in workshops in Vienna including Bruno Zach, Ferdinand Preiss, Franz Josef Starek, Carl Kauba, some carry the Argentor Vienna brand ...