Make your offer

🚚FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE

Bust of the Golden Lei – Brazil, late 19th century

An extraordinary Santos rosewood bust with bronze applications, iron elements, and an engraved lead front plate.

A work of great presence and strong symbolic intensity, crafted from Santos rosewood and characterized by the juxtaposition of different materials: wood, bronze, lead, and iron.

The sculpture depicts a half-length male face, sculpted with great attention to physiognomic detail. The face is traversed by a distinctive iron structure, similar to a muzzle, an element that gives the work a dramatic and highly evocative character.

The polygonal wooden base is enriched with bronze decorative elements, including figures of rams, and features a lead plate on the front with the significant inscription:
1888 LEI ÁUREA BRASIL
The reference is to the Lei Áurea, the law promulgated in Brazil on May 13, 1888, which officially abolished slavery.

Particularly interesting is the date 1898 engraved on the back of the sculpture, ten years after the promulgation of the Lei Áurea. The presence of this date lends the work an additional element of interest and reinforces its commemorative interpretation, although its original purpose cannot be established with certainty.

The juxtaposition of the human face, the iron structure, the inscription dedicated to the Lei Áurea, and the date 1898 creates a work of extraordinary visual and symbolic power.
It is not merely a decorative object: it is a material testimony to a crucial moment in Brazilian history, enclosed in a sculpture of modest size but with a remarkable impact.

Materials
Santos Rosewood Bronze Lead Iron

Dimensions
Height: 32 cm

Width: 22.2 cm

Depth: 15 cm

Weight: 3.2 kg

Period: Late 19th century

Dates and inscriptions: 1888 – Lei Áurea / 1898