A beautiful and very whimsical Gilt Bronze Statue of ‘The Mouse and the Oyster’ by sculptor Antoine Aigon.
The statue illustrates the fable of ‘ Le Rat et l’huitre’ by Jean de la Fontaine.
As with all of Jean de la Fontaine’s (1621 – 1695) work this fable features animals engaging in the behaviors that mirror human beings’ and serve as lessons in life.
Here the little Field mouse decides to quit living in the same countryside as his family and travel instead.
Arriving on a beach he sees oysters lying around of which one is open; he decides to make it his lunch, but is caught by the oyster which clamps down on his face, effectively trapping him.
The moral behind the fable is in French: Tel est pris qui croyait prendre ! Which can be translated to “The one who wanted to catch, gets caught.” or more simply “The tables are turned!”
This charming statue is signed by Antoine Aigon (aslo known as Antonin Aigon) Aigon was born in 1847 in Montpellier and moved to Paris to study sculpture under Pierre louis Rouillard. He soon decided to devote himself to animal sculpture, exhibiting for the first time at the Salon with ‘Alouette prise au piège’, “The trapped Swallow”.
He died in Paris aged 49 years old, on December 3rd 1884, and is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Our charming bronze is signed AIGON on the side of the oyster.