This handsome bronze portrait bust of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) stands 22cm high, and is mounted on a plinth made from slabs of yellow Siena marble, quarried from Monte Arrenti near Sovicille in central Italy. The bronze, dating from the Restauration period, has mellowed with age and acquired a fine brown patina, which adds to its wonderful character. Rousseau, the famous French-Swiss social philosopher and moralist is depicted in the sculpture wearing the fur turban and fur-trimmed jacket of the Armenian costume he chose to wear when he arrived back in his homeland after his European wanderings.