France. BOULONNAISE. By Ernesta Robert-Mérignac (1849-1933). Bronze 45mm x 64mm. Catalogue Général Illustré vol. 3 352/A. $90. Sorry, SOLD (April, 2020).

From Robert- Mérignac’s series of plaquettes depicting women in regional costumes of France: Alsacienne, Angevine, Auvergnate, Boulonnaise, Bourbonnaise, Bressane, Bretone, Catalane, Charentaise, Limousine, Lorraine, Normanide, Olonnaise, Poitevine, Provençale, Saintongeaise, Vendéenne.

Ernesta Robert-Mérignac, sculptor and medallist was born at Saint-Omer on August 25 1849. She studied under Mlle Geneviève Granger, Mlle Darbefeille and Georges Récipon. She exhibited four plaquettes in 1905 at the Salon des Artistes Français and several medals in 1906 and at the 1924 Olympics. She was the daughter of fencing master Charles Gustave Robert and wife of another, Émile Mérignac. Her nephew Lucien  Mérignac won the gold medal in the 1900 Olympic Foil Masters event. Robert-Mérignac, died at Paris on February 28 1933.