Bessier's Alabaster Pensive Woman Bust
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An alabaster bust of a woman by Bessier, early 20th century, a pensive young woman in a head scarf gazing upwards to her left, wearing a gown in contrasting mottled amber colours with a drawstring bodice, incised Bessier, verso, height 24 cm, width 20 cm
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- Alabaster - Alabaster is soft natural stone used for statuary, with a similar appearance to marble, but easier to work with. As it is softer than marble, an item made from alabaster can be scratched with a metal object, and an alabaster item does not polish to a high surface gloss like marble.
Alabaster objects can be semi-translucent. Alabaster occurs in a pure white form and also with veining from dirt. Colours vary from white through yellow and pink to brown. The veining is usually green or black but can be multicoloured.
Being semi-translucent, alabaster is often used for the bowls of figural lamps, with the figure itself being either alabaster or marble. - Verso - Verso is the "back" side of a sheet of paper, art work, coin or medal. The front side is "recto".
- Incised - A record of a name, date or inscription, or a decoration scratched into a surface, usually of a glass or ceramic item with a blunt instrument to make a coarse indentation. Compare with engraving where the surface is cut with a sharp instrument such as a metal needle or rotating tool to achieve a fine indentation.
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