Children playing with a swan - France, End of the 18th century

This group provides a pleasant image of two children playing with a swan. This is part of the Versailles taste for these earthy sets that adorn among other things the fountains and ponds of the park of the castle. This is particularly evident in the groups made in plumb by Jules-Antoine Rousseau in 1750 to decorate the basin of the Trianon vegetable garden. Cast in the same material, our group could have been intended for the same use. Very appreciated since Antiquity, this subject evoking for some the fight against childhood diseases and the epidemics embodied by the bird, is also and above all the testimony of the sensitivity of this 18th century, which brings an innovative look at childhood, tender and caring.