Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres Bisque figure of the singing dancer no. 2 from Le Jeu de l'écharpe by Agathon Léonard, 1901. Engraved under the base: cachet de Sèvres, V. 01-3 for March 1901 and n° 2. First size. Height: 46 cm The index finger of the high hand has been restored. In 1897, Alexandre Sandier (1843-1916), the new artistic director of the Manufacture de Sèvres, noticed at an exhibition the models of a decorative project intended to adorn a dance foyer. The artist Léonard Agathon Van Weydeveldt, known as Agathon Léonard (1841-1923) was then invited to adapt these figures of dancers to a table decoration project, especially in cookie porcelain. The set comprises fifteen statuettes: eleven dancers, two musicians and two torchbearers. It was exhibited at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, where it was acclaimed by critics and the public alike, and awarded a gold medal. These graceful, sinuous statuettes masterfully translated the spirit of Art Nouveau, so dear to Alexandre Sandier, into space. They were a great commercial success. Agathon Léonard and the artisans at Sèvres combined the classical neo-Greek aesthetic inspired by the ancient figures of the Tanagra with the serpentine choreography of the American dancer Loïe Fuller (1869-1928), who had been a sensation in Paris since 1893. The development of a new hard porcelain paste enabled the innovative rhythm and choreography of this pioneer of modern dance to be translated into the material. Between 1901 and 1930, 89 examples of our cookie were produced, all in varying numbers depending on their success. Many figures were sold individually or in small groups, but very few were sold as complete sets.