Manufacture de Choisy-le-Roi, Signed Paul Comoléra, Houdan chicken, Circa 1880, glazed earthenware, Choisy-le-Roi, France

This remarkable sculpture comes from the Choisy-le-Roi factory, which during the Second Empire became a major center for the distribution of artistic ceramics, rivalling the famous Minton factory in England and the Sarreguemines factory in France. Larger than life, it fascinates with its subject: a Houdan hen, often associated with a rooster of the same workmanship, in a treatment of naturalistic realism that is fully in the spirit of its time and contrasts with the Antique and virtuous subjects of bygone eras. The posh hen is personalized in an almost maternal attitude. In a walking pose, she gazes at her chick, which flaps its wings to hold her attention. Her predominantly white plumage is set against a water-green vase and a lighter mound than that of the rooster, leaning against a vase of ochre wheat ears and standing on a bottle-green mound.