Erotic bronze miniature

A small bronze figure showing an erotic scene of a couple, cast fully in the round and worked on every side. It fits in the palm of a hand.

Erotic small bronzes have a long history — in Japan as shunga sculpture, in India around the temple arts, in Europe as nineteenth-century cabinet pieces you only showed to visitors you knew well. Nothing is documented about this one: no signature, no foundry mark, no date. What can be said is a matter of craft: it is cast, not pressed, and the figures are worked out even where you cannot see them once it is standing up. The three photos show the same piece from three sides.

The surface has darkened, lighter on the raised parts — that is what happens when bronze is handled over the years. If you want it shiny, polish it; I would leave it, the patina belongs to the age of the thing.

• One bronze figure, erotic couple
• Fully in the round, worked on all sides
• Hand-sized
• No signature, foundry mark or date
• Dark patina, lighter on the edges
• Adults only

Good. Complete, no breaks, no flaws in the casting. The patina has grown evenly. The base is flat, the figure stands on its own.