Welcome, LEO, monarch of the animal kingdom!
Today marks the first day of the sunsign, LEO. And, during the coming month, we will celebrate the birthdays of such stars and leaders as Barack Obama, Tony Bennet, Daniel Radcliffe, Halle Berry, Robert de Niro, Mick Jagger, Jason Momoa, Madonna Ciccone, Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Martha Stewart, Meghan Markle, Charlize Theron, Hellen Mirren, Anna Kendrick and Maya Rudolph.
I remember, as though it were yesterday, that LEO Season of 31 years ago. I spent many of those days—on my hands and knees—sanding and staining the floor of my first LEO Design shop at 413 Bleecker Street. It was a labor of love (and underfunding)—and I came to know every crevice of the store intimately. And (boy!) those floors looked great!
The cast spelter lion, shown above, has been finished with exquisite hand-painting. Though it's unmarked, it was probably made in Germany or Austria in the late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century. The detail of the casting is terrific—one can see the texture of his fur and even the pads on the bottoms of his front feet. And the hand-painting is superb.
Viennese "cold-painted" bronze works were popular from the mid-Nineteenth Century until World War One. In these high-quality, collectible works, highly detailed bronze (or, in this case, spelter) was decorated with delicate hand-painting. Because the polychroming was not fired or otherwise "fixed," such painted works were vulnerable to chipping. Cold-painted bronzes were collected as handcrafted works of art—not used as children's toys. In some cases, the foundries would cast and clean-up the pieces (remove burrs, grind-down casting seams, "chase" other flaws in the casting), then send them out to women who would paint them at home (which became a cottage industry).
Although the LEO, shown here, is not visibly signed, it is handsomely sculpted, cast and finished. He is made of spelter, an alloy of zinc mixed with copper, tin or lead. Spelter became popular in the Nineteenth Century as a less-expensive (easier to manipulate) alternative to bronze. It is softer than bronze (and more brittle), though it is known for its ability to translate fine details in castings. Click on the photo above to learn more about it.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.