Allegorical female bust with draped shawl and headscarf

This sensational 54 cm high monumental bust, incisively signed by the noted Belgian sculptor Anton Nelson (1849–1910) —pseudonym of Antoine Joseph Van Den Kerckhove—, represents an outstanding Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) / Symbolist artwork carved circa 1900 in a sophisticated polychrome combination of fine-grained white marble and honey-and-sienna veined alabaster. The work captures fin-de-siècle technical virtuosity by juxtaposing the translucent softness of the marble across the facial features and chest with the dense organic veining of the alabaster sculpted for the draped shawl knotted at the front and the headscarf gathering the hair, achieving a striking chromatic and tactile harmony of symbolic and romantic resonance. Imbued with the idealization and poetic elegance characteristic of Nelson's allegorical figures, the bust is distinguished by the subtle facial modeling, delicate curls escaping the headpiece, and the introspective mood of the gaze, seamlessly bridging European academic tradition with the fluid decorative rhythms of Art Nouveau. Autograph signed on the reverse alabaster base ('Nelson'), this sculpture retains an impeccable state of preservation and a rare monumental scale, placing this type of output by the artist within premier auction houses and fine private collections specializing in 19th and early 20th-century European decorative sculpture.