18th-century wood sculpture: "Woman Sowing"

A charming sculpture in a pastoral style, depicting a "woman sowing" clad in light drapery, which she gathers with her left hand to hold the seeds she is about to scatter.
Notable features include the gentle expression of her face, the fluid grace of her posture, and the elegance of her hair, styled in a chignon with large curls.
The 18th-century allegory of a woman sowing seeds emerged at the intersection of the philosophical and aesthetic shifts characterizing the Age of Enlightenment.
She can be interpreted as an allegory of Nature and Agriculture (reflecting Physiocracy—a school of thought holding that land and agriculture constitute the only true source of wealth).
Associated with Cybele or Ceres, she embodies the nurturing earth.
She can also be viewed as an allegory for education and the dissemination of Enlightenment ideals. In this context, she becomes a metaphor for instruction, spreading the "seeds of knowledge" to dispel ignorance. This was the era of Diderot and d'Alembert’s *Encyclopédie*; here, sowing signifies cultivating the human mind.
By contrast, in the 19th century, the "Sower" (*la Semeuse*) would become a symbol of liberty, scattering not wheat or flowers, but the principles of equality inherent in republican ideals (such as Oscar Roty’s *Semeuse*).

Dimensions: H 43 cm x W 17 cm x D 10 cm

France
Linden wood
18th century