Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: Randall Zadar
Date: 2004
Inscriptions: Signed and numbered ‘Zadar #13 of 79’ (on the underside)
Dimensions: 20 x 16 x 16 mm. / ⅞ x ⅝ x ⅝ inches (height x width x depth)
Intended Room: Breakfast Room
Inventory number: 2021.090

Provenance: The Adell Venus Collection of Miniatures (‘Property from the Estate of Adell Venus, Chicago, Illinois’). Sold Leslie Hindman, Chicago, sale 279 (‘The Adell Venus Collection of Miniatures’), 17 July 2013, part of lot 379. Bought there by Miniature Cottage, Nashville, Tennessee. Bought by us from Miniature Cottage in 2021.

This limited-edition piece by Randall Zadar shows Venus at her toilette, having her hair dressed by the Three Graces, while Cupid laces up her sandals. The design was inspired by an eighteenth-century French figurine, designed for Sevres by Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809) (see below for an image of the original). Our miniature figurine was formerly in the Adell Venus Collection, Chicago. It bears the artist’s signature and edition number ‘Zadar #13 of 79’ on the base. At Quartermaine Hall, it will join the family’s other porcelain figurines on display in the feminine environs of the Breakfast Room.

From Zadar’s own catalogue:

‘#92 – Venus Adorned. 2004. Permanently retired. Secondary market only. Height 7/8″. A miniature reproduction of a Sevres (French) antique porcelain that has classic beauty. 79 painted figurines, issue price $150. Three studio samples.’