"Pluto and Prosperpine" and "Boreas and Orithhya" A pair of French patinated bronze raptus groups, cast from models by Simon Boizot (1743-1809), 19th century. each on gilt bronze base; together with a pair of Louis XVI style gilt bronze-mounted fossilized marble pedestals. sculpture heights: 18 in. and 16 in.; on bases 20 1/2 in. and 18 1/2 in.; the pedestals height: 50 1/2 in. (46 cm; 41 cm; 52 cm; 47 cm; 128 cm). History of the item: The present bronze groups have been cast after models conceived originally for reproduction in biscuit de Sevres by Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809), which he exhibited at the Salon of 1786. Boizot drew his inspiration from the earlier models of the same subject by Gaspard Marsy (1628-1681) and François Giradon (1636-1711), designed as garden statues which formed part of a group of twenty-four figures commissioned by King Louis XIV from 1674 on for the Parterre d'Eau at Versailles. Sketches for these statues are in the Cabinet des dessins at the Louvre.