Alfred Louis Habert, Muse of Music statue repair

I bought (more like rescued) a antique clock from a couple about a month ago.

It is a Waterbury Voltaire.
The original ad can be seen here on ebay - if you click the picture the image becomes legible.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151739839926?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Voltaire is gone and has been replaced with Alfred Louis Habert's Muse of Music statue.
She actually looks a lot better on there and fits perfectly.

The thing about her...
She has been through the ringer, the poor girl. She's been broken and professionally repaired before. The couple rebroke her arm hauling her to me.
She's missing her lyre completely.
She was broken completely around the waist (which I couldn't even tell until close inspection) and solder was added underneath to stabilize a bolt so she could be added to the clock.

As of now Id like to keep the clock in my collection but may sell it down the road.

My question(s)..
How much should it cost to repair her arm?
Should I consider buying a new statue (possibly trying to find the Voltaire) vs the value of the clock?

I've seen ads for less quality casts of the Muse for $100.

What are yalls thoughts on what I should do?



Broken arm


Previous arm repair


Waist repair


Solder

 

Tough one, the clock is not worth much anyway, and for all the mention of bronze in the advert it is simply cast spelter, and this is almost impossible to repair, due to its low melting point, propensity to oxidise and metal structure.

Finding something else at a flea market and bolting it on would seem to be the only feasible solution.

 

So would it be ridiculous to try and mend her myself?
Either solder her arm back on, which I'm still learning to do, or use a glue (what type would be best for spelter)?

 

Are you sure it's Habert's Muse of Music? I'm getting this when I do online searches. There are significant differences from yours.

http://fineart.ha.com/itm/fine-art-...figure-muse-of-music-alfred-lo/a/5100-66215.s

http://artsalesindex.artinfo.com/asi/lots/4521574

Or did he do more than one sculpture by that name?

 

So would it be ridiculous to try and mend her myself?
Either solder her arm back on, which I'm still learning to do, or use a glue (what type would be best for spelter)?

Not ridiculous,just impractical. Solder is a problem as the spelter tends to melt at not much above the solder temperature, check out the specifications for zinc. If heated , the surfaces tend to oxidise making actual solder contact difficult and it probably needs a special flux.

Some form of epoxy glue in conjunction with physical support may do the trick. Carve or mould a plug that fits inside both parts snugly, this will provide the strength. Trim and fit till the pieces mate as exactly as possible, then push together after lightly coating the plug with glue. If you are confident of the fit it may be an idea to do one half first.

You have to do it right or it is permanently wrong. But you really have nothing to lose.

Googling 'repair spelter' may give you some other ideas.

 

Did a little more looking. The one I linked above is sometimes called Terpsichore online, sometimes Euterpe, and sometime just "muse of music."

From what I can tell, Euterpe is the closest to being a muse of music. Her attribute is an instrument like a flute, which I don't see on your sculpture. However, yours does have a curious feature. To me, is looks like she might be sitting on some animal and the leg of the animal is coming down... almost looks like a deer's hind leg. Maybe it's an optical illusion, but what is that? It may be representing the attribute of the muse.

 

Terpsichore is the muse of dance, and has a lyre. She might be the one in the sculpture that I linked.

 

This page gives a good description of the muses and their attributes, about a third of the way down: http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/nine-muses-in-greek-mythology/

I guess several of them involve lyres, but the one I linked is Terpsichore, due to the laurel wreath on her head.

 

Fig, whoever the figure is, she is essentially FUBAR.

 

Shes missing the lyre, you can see where its broken off.

I guess I'll just use her to practice on :/

 

That sounds like a good plan.

 

Well, as I said... several of the muses apparently included lyres. I do see that gray spot -- even more damages, I guess.

If you do manage to repair her, please post photos to this thread later. It would be good to see her more whole.

 

Fig asked the question for me: what is that miscellaneous leg??

 

The muses are legendary and that's the leg end.

 

Very good, Af! I'll stash that next to Psycho the Rapist.

 

JB Weld, file edges when dry, paint to match if needed.

 

Hi,
This is what your figurine looked like before her death march.
greg

 

And there's that random leg again. Do you know what and why, Greg?

 

That random leg might be a deer hoof shaped leg to a stool the muse is sitting on. I have seen several bronze statues similar to this one, some by Harbert, some by Pradier, some by copiers, etc... Here are a few examples of the women, muses, sitting on stools/seats with hoof shaped legs.
Look at the back view of the statue:
http://fineart.ha.com/itm/fine-art-...figure-muse-of-music-alfred-lo/a/5100-66215.s

http://www.jamespradier.com/Pictures/Sapho assise (67) (large_bis).jpg
http://www.jamespradier.com/Pictures/Sapho assise (109) (large_bis).jpg

http://www.jamespradier.com/Pictures/Evrard_Victor_Femme_assise_coll_Feijen_large.jpg

--- Susan

 

Susan, Thanks for the photos! It was bothering me, wondering what the random leg was. Due to the design of the one in the original post, I'm thinking it's possible that it's intended to suggest the traditional deer leg design rather than being an actual stool. It appears to me that she is sitting on a rock.