France. VIRGIN MARY. By Georges Contaux (1891-1984). Uniface studio model cast bronze 173mm, central design: 157mm. EX DELANDE COMPANY ARCHIVE. $250. —– This is a “studio model,” from the Delande company archives, the main purpose of which would have been to serve as a model from which dies would have been made using a reducing machine. Only a very limited number of studio models would have been made with just a few being sold, disseminated or used for special purposes. In some cases, only one “master” studio model would have been created solely for use in the process of die-making. (Delande et Cie. of Paris was a company that manufactured and distributed medals, decorations, flags, and trophies. In was founded in the late 19th century and closed its doors in the 1980s. It had customers throughout the world and produced military decorations and uniform ornamentations for several governments).———- Georges Contaux was born on September 22, 1891 in Paris. He entered the ?cole Boulle, where he studied sculpture and engraving. He joined the 26?me R?giment d?artillerie de campagne at Chartres in 1911. Contaux was wounded during World War I and had two fingers amputated. In 1921 he received an honorable mention at the Salon des Artistes Fran?ais. From 1922 to 1923 he worked for the engraver Pierre Lasserre (1870-1943). He then established himself at Vigneux-sur-Seine, where he remained, for the rest of his life, working as a sculptor and medallist. We was a prolific medallist producing about twenty-five hundred medals over the span of fifty years from 1930 to 1980. About fifteen hundred of his medals were religious, another eight hundred related to sports and about 150 were portrait medals. Contaux died at Vigneux-sur-Seine on September 15, 1984.