Console.
Bronze with patina.
Signed and dated 1896.
This console represents the descent into hell of a man who seems to be clinging to the cornice of the top to escape the monsters that snake around the bottom of the object. It is completely in the vein of the symbolist movement that flourished at the end of the nineteenth century, but the artist Albert Laplanche was rather known for his productions of animal bronzes. Personal fantasy or commission, it is an atypical object for his production.