(Brussels 1823–1906 Paris)
La Boule Argentée, signed AStevens, oil on panel, 73 x 52 cm, framed

Provenance:
Madame Edouard Jacquet, Brüssel (by 1907);
Sammlung Gasquet (by 1930);
Hotel Drouot Paris, 1. Mai 1940, Los 7;
Acquired above by a private collector,
by inheritance to the current owner,
Private Collection Belgium.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Paul Lambotte, „Etude illustrée sur l‘oeuvre du Maître”, in l’Art Flamand et Hollondais, Antwerp, Tome 7, no IV, April 1907.
Paul Lambotte, “Etude illustrée sur l‘oeuvre du Maître”, in exhibition catalogue Alfred Stevens, Antwerp/Brussels 1907.
François Boucher, Alfred Stevens, Paris 1930, pl. 44.

This lot shows an elegant young woman dressed in the latest fashion of the day, standing in a flower garden and holding a Japanese parasol to shield her from the sun. She is looking through a glass ball which reflects her portrait in its shiny surface. The work focuses on the relationship between seeing the model and being seen by her in return. In fact, the convex surface of the ball indeed enables the viewer to see a bigger image of reality on its surface.
The glass globe was a common nineteenth-century garden ornament. Alfred Stevens was an eclectic collector, and used glass globes for artistic experimentation. He captures the features of the garden in one magical vista that encompasses the trees, the lawn and a house in the background.