Pairpoint ? boy and dolphin on marble base....maybe

This boy on dolphin in what I think is gilt bronze or brass measures 5" including the base. The little ball at the top screws off as does the base.

The figure itself isn't marked but it does look very similar to Pairpoint. When I unscrewed the base the washer is marked Pairpoint C1423. So not only do I not know what this is/was, I also don't know if Pairpoint is always marked on the piece itself.

Anybody know? Thanks!

 

Dolphins don't have scales

 

Yeah I don't know why exactly they call them dolphins because they don't look anything like the dolphin fish. More like a mythical fish creature but that's what they call um. At least as far as I know.

 

I think it likely had a glass plate mounted by the top nut

 

I did find this one but the bottom below the fish is different and the top nut is flat.

 

Hi,
I have seen many of these in areas of Brooklyn which was populated by Italians. There was a movie of the 1950s called "Boy on a Dolphin" which I think had Alan Ladd and Sophia Loren as an Italian fisherman/woman who finds a wonderful bronze statue under the sea.
greg

 

I must have missed that movie. (I did see "Two Women" with Loren around that time but that was totally different.)

 

Hi,
Some of the best of the movie was placing Alan away from Sophia since he was so short and she tall. I remember it made me want to run off to Italy and scuba in the warm water and sandy beaches, so different from the Western Pennsylvania landscape.
greg

 

LOL Italian beaches and warm water....I'm in!

 

Believe Alan Ladd was a good 2" shorter than Loren. They had a trench dug in several scenes for Sophia to stand inorder not to tower over Alan Ladd.

Made you and every hot blooded male want to run off to Italy and scuba in the warm water. You forgot to mention wanting to scuba in the warm water with hot Sophia! Gee, she could have won all the wet T-shirt contests since the beginning of time with that famous scene of her emerging from the water in that wet dripping yellow? dress. I think Alan Ladd said after making that movie something like "It's like being bombed by watermelons."

https://www.google.com/search?q=Pairpoint boy and dolphin&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=F5m5VLeNNcGrgwTchIHwDQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1143&bih=658&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=sophia Loren boy on a dolphin

--- Susan

 

There is a fish called a dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) that occurs worldwide, including the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic, that might be a better candidate as a source for this type of figure.

 

reminds me of an old map sea serpent.

 

Hi Susan,
I always considered Elizabeth Taylor as the most beautiful woman in the world BUT Sophia Loren as the sexiest woman alive. As I told the wives, I love you but if Sophia crooks her finger, sorry but I am gone. I got to see Sophia several times when she lived in Edison NJ. Most people do not know but when there was all these kidnappings of children of famous parents in Italy she rented a house owned by Ava Gabor who lived there while she was making "Green Acres.
greg

 

r u thinkin what i'm thinkin that she's thinkin....???

 

Speaking of Alan Ladd, my Mom had a HUGE crush on him,when she met him he autographed this pic for her and she said he was very short. She was 5'8" and said she towered over him.

 

I wonder if Sophia was singing the song,Wishin' & Hopin'?

 

I think she's thinkin she's gonna fall all the way outa ther in just a second
Not sure if that's a judgmental look or envy

 

I doubt envy. Sophia was more them well endowed herself. BTW that is Jayne Mansfield. She was the mother of Mariska Hargitay, the detective Olivia Benson, now head of the unit, on "Law & Order SVU." Mariska was in the backseat of the car her mother was driving when Mansfield crashed into the back of a truck and was killed - 1967. I believe Mansfield was decapitated!

--- Susan

 

Oh my gosh I didn't realize that about Mariska whom I admire. I remember when Mansfield was killed, I think that was one of the reasons that trucks had extra safety requirements.

 

I've seen depictions of that creature called a dolphin. The form goes back to classical Greek sculptures. There is a lot of literature about the symbolism of the dolphin in the classical world. Most of the older things I've seen so far don't show scales articulated in that way, but I can't guarantee that they were not in some instances.

These writings are about dolphin symbolism and meaning, and some mention of sculptures/statues:

https://books.google.com/books?id=H-CeqmtY2f4C&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=dolphin classical statues&source=bl&ots=RVJAoy_RQ0&sig=eQ9SUA2rbUFfZmmyz0n1u0CR6Zw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HWy6VJ_0NMnnywPKqIGYAQ&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=dolphin classical statues&f=false

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/man/myth.html

http://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1145&context=arch_pubs

Roman sculpture, a reproduction of an even older Greek sculpture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63495554@N02/7937902858

And another on this page:
http://www.ohmyomaha.com/2014/02/poseidon-joslyn-art-museum/

Venus de Medici:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de'_Medici

In a much later depiction, Albrecht Dürer depicted Arion on a dolphin. This one had scales: https://www.google.com/search?q=durer arion&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=775&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mnK6VOvFHIGcyASOioLYCA&ved=0CB0QsAQ