FERDINANDO VICHI (ITALIAN, 1875-1945): A LARGE CARRARA MARBLE FIGURE OF A DANCING GIRL 'DANZATRICE ESOTICA' SIGNED 'F. VICHI SALON 1914' the young girl wearing a jewelled bikini and necklace, her hair flowing around her shoulders in loose curls, dancing with a veil, her diaphanous skirt with ribbons flowing around her, palm leaves at her feet and the oval base naturalistically carved as a carpet, signed 'F. Vichi Salon 1914, Marmo di Carrara', with inset metal disc inscribed 'BAZAR COLON, MONTEVIDEO', raised on an oval plinth, sold together with two copies of ‘Selecta’ magazine, the first dated May 1917, Ano 1, Numero 1, Montevideo, and including a full page advertisement for the ‘El Bazarcito Y Bazar Colon’ gallery, Calle Sarandi, 580—586, Montevideo, showing a single photograph with the present marble on display in the centre of the image, the second dated October 1917, Ano 1, Num .6 and  including a full page advert for the gallery, with four illustrations of the various sculptures in the gallery, the magazine 36cm high, 153cm high THIS LOT WILL BE ON DISPLAY AT OUR SOUTH KENSINGTON GALLERY UNTIL 14TH MARCH AND AT OUR CHISWICK SALEROOM FROM 16TH - 21ST MARCH. PROVENANCE: Presumably carved in Florence, inscribed for the Paris Salon of 1914.  Acquired between 1914 and 1917 by the Bazar Colon Gallery, Montevideo, Uruguay.  Purchased by the present owner from a gallery in Geneva, Switzerland over forty years ago and part of an important private collection. FOOTNOTE: Rarely is a sculpture offered at auction with such intriguing and well documented  provenance as the present 'Danzatrice Esotica'. She was presumably carved in Florence, where Ferdinando Vichi’s workshop was based, and the signature on an identical marble which came to auction some years ago supports this assumption, for it was signed ‘F. VICHI FIRENZE’. Our example is signed 'Salon 1914', the last Paris Salon to take place before the Great War, but she has also bears a small medallion for the 'Bazar Colon, Montevideo' and appears in a photographic advert for the gallery in 1917. Looking back over a hundred years later, we can hardly imagine the intermittent years and circumstances that led to her escaping Paris on the cusp of war and arriving in Uruguay at the 'Columbus Gallery or 'Bazar Colon' as it was known. The accompanying advertisement shows four photographs of the gallery at this time, brimming with marble sculpture, bronzes and other works of art, from floor to ceiling. We know that she was back in Europe by the 1970's when she was purchased by the present owner from a gallery in Switzerland, meaning that during her lifetime, she has already travelled from Florence, to Paris, Uruguay, Geneva and London.   The 'Danzatrice Esotica' demonstrates the high technical virtuosity of this talented sculptor who manages to create a variety of textures and surfaces from the hard crystalline surface of the white marble. Highly respected during his lifetime, Vichi was part of a group of Italian sculptors who exhibited at the Bazzanti Gallery in Florence, including Cesare Lapini, Pietro Bazzanti and Guglielmo Pugi. He specialised in female nudes and busts, exploring the theme through a variety of styles, from his more idealised figures inspired by classical art to the Romantic figures such as the ‘Sea Nymph’, (sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 20 April 2005, lot 75, $108,000). He also worked in the Orientalist style, producing exotic figures such as his marble ‘Danse of the Peacock’, (Sotheby’s, New York, 16 November 2011, lot 351), depicting a dancer in similar garb to lot 34 of this sale.   An identical marble of the same size as the present sculpture but inscribed 'F. Vichi, Firenze', was sold Christie’s, London, 20 March 2003, lot 66, £65,000. Related Literature: A. Panzetta, Dizionario Degli Scultori Italiani Dell' Ottocento e del primo Novecento, 1994, Vol. II, p.201, No.828, (illustration of the smaller version).