Auguste MOREAU (1834-1917), Kybele

Patinated bronze; height 54.5 cm, base diameter 19 cm.
France, cast 19th/20th century.
Female figure, barefoot, wearing airy robe revealing arms and legs, supporting a sheaf of grain with her left hand on her hip; holding several ears in her right hand extended forward. Face slightly smiling, hair partly braided, pinned up in a fancy bun decorated with a branch with fruit. Signature on the back: "Aug. Moreau". Circular pedestal, with spool profile; on front in decorative cartouche inscription: "CYBELLE".
Kybele - Phrygian goddess of fertility and harvest, counterpart of the Greek Demeter; she was worshipped throughout Asia Minor as Magna Mater, and her cult in the territories of the Roman Empire lasted until the 5th century AD.