Nude Woman with Water Jar

Description: Art Nouveau Bronze Inkstand

• Style: Art Nouveau
• Origin: France
• Designer: Marcel Bing (1875–1920)
• Medium: Cast bronze with a warm, gilded patina (patine dorée).
• Circa: 1900 (Antique period casting).
• Signature: Incised “M. Bing” along the reverse edge of the rocky base.

Breakdown

This inkstand features a classic Art Nouveau naturalistic composition:

• The Figure & Vessel: A sculpted nude young woman with long, flowing hair is depicted as a water bearer. She reclines gracefully on a textured, organic base, cradling a large, classical water jar (jarre).
• The Inkwell Mechanism: Nestled directly below the jar is a tree-stump-shaped pedestal. The top of the stump forms an integrated, hinged lid that lifts to access the inkwell (insert is missing).
• Pen Tray: The front of the irregular, organic base sweeps forward into a wide, shallow, undulating depression designed to function as a pen tray.

About the Designer: Marcel Bing (1875–1920)

Marcel Bing (born Lucien Marcel Bing) was an accomplished French jeweler, goldsmith, and decorative designer whose life was intertwined with the birth of the Art Nouveau movement.

• The Family Legacy: He was the son of Siegfried “Samuel” Bing (1838–1905), the legendary German-French avant-garde art dealer and scholar. It was Siegfried’s iconic Paris gallery, Maison de l’Art Nouveau (opened in 1895), that ultimately gave the entire stylistic movement its name.
• Artistic Focus: Marcel trained specifically as a jeweler. Within his father’s influential enterprise, he was placed in charge of the dedicated jewelry and precious metal workshops. He specialized in crafting high-end jewelry, stylized metal mounts for ceramics or glassware, and small decorative bronzes that embodied the organic forms and fluid lines of the era.
• Managing the Firm: Growing up surrounded by his father’s elite circle of artists (including the Nabis, Henry van de Velde, and Georges de Feure), Marcel developed a sharp, modern eye. Following Siegfried Bing’s death in September 1905, Marcel took over the management and liquidation of the gallery’s massive holdings, continuing to work as a designer and connoisseur until his own passing in 1920.