György Zala, Art Nouveau Busts of Princess Sisi and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, 1898, Gilded Bronzes, Set of 2

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Item description:
Fabulous pair of bronze busts depicting the famous Princess Sissi and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, created and … Read more Item description:
Fabulous pair of bronze busts depicting the famous Princess Sissi and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, created and signed by Hungarian artist György ZALA, dated 1898. One of the two sculptures is signed on the back by the artist György Zala and the other has the name of the character and the year of creation, 1898, on the back. Both have a plaque on the front attached to the marble base with the name of the artist and the character. The emperor's blouse is beautiful, as is the princess's bodice, entirely worked in light bas-relief. Note the beauty of the crown and the handkerchief on her hair, all engraved with a burin, with great attention to detail, a fine fusion. The two sculptures depicted are Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and King of Hungary and the Bavarian princess of the House of Wittelsbach, Empress of Austria and Queen of Bohemia from 1854 until 1867, when she became Queen of Hungary through her marriage to the emperor. She was nicknamed Sissi by her family, and following Ernst Marischka's films of 1955-57, the popular name Princess Sissi also spread in the press and in common parlance.

Useful information for evaluating the item:
An internet search shows that the same pair of busts was sold at auction in 2010 for €2,160, plus auction fees of 25-30%, bringing the total cost to around €2,750. However, it should be noted that this was a Hungarian auction house and €2,750 in Hungary in 2010 is equivalent to a purchasing power of around €8,000-10,000 in Italy today. In fact, we found another auction, held at the Dorotheum in Vienna, where the bust of Princess Sissi alone was sold for 35,000 Austrian schillings (plus expenses) in 1999, when the euro did not yet exist, which would correspond to €2,500 today, but their purchase value in 1999 was certainly well over €4,000. Finally, it should be noted that both the pair of busts and the single bust have a brown patina, while ours are mercury-gilded, and therefore their value is higher. We also found the auction of the seven Magyar heads, which reached €32,000 in 2012, but this was in Hungary, where they have a much higher value than in Italy, France, or Germany.

Information about the artist and/or manufacturer:
György Zala (1858 in Alsólendva, Slovenia - July 31, 1937 in Budapest), also known as Georg Zala, was a Hungarian sculptor. Along with Alajos Strobl and János Fadrusz, he was one of the leading Hungarian sculptors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He created many important monuments in Hungary, among which the group of sculptures depicting the seven captains of the Magyars in Heroes' Square in Budapest stands out. This piece has an attribution mark,
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