"Surtout de table": Elk Hunt

Description In the duke of Orléans' table centerpiece, the "Elk Hunt," a scene set in Mongolia, was originally placed on top of a small, temple-like base flanked with figurative statuettes by the sculptor Antoine Moine (1796-1849). It was placed next to the "Lion Hunt" at one end of the 19-foot-long centerpiece. The firm of Richard et Quesnel initially tried to sand cast this sculpture but returned it to Honoré Gonon who, after restoring the model, cast it in separate pieces. Auguste Ottin (1811-90), the sculptor who assisted Barye in the production of the "Tiger Hunt," helped in assembling the pieces and finishing the surface. When Barye submitted this sculpture to the 1837 Salon, the jury overwhelmingly rejected it.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/01/1963	Treatment	cleaned
8/26/1965	Treatment	cleaned
6/14/1972	Treatment	cleaned
9/19/1991	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation; coated
1/01/2002	Examination	examined for condition
1/26/2007	Technical Report	X-ray fluorescence

Exhibitions

• The Works of Antoine-Louis Barye. American Art Gallery (New York), New York. 1889-1890.
• Un âge d'or des arts décoratifs: 1814-1848. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. 1991.
• Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.
• Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Palm Beach. 2007-2008.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.

Provenance Duc d'Orléans, 1834, by commission; duchesse d'Orléans Sale, Paris, January 18-20, 1853, no. 1; Count Anatole Demidoff; San Donato Sale, Paris, March 22-24, 1870, no. 1534; William T. Walters, Baltimore, around November 30, 1888, by purchase [George A. Lucas as agent]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature and Date] Cast through from model: BARYE / 1838.

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, ca. 1888