This is a bronze depiction of the figural sculpted by the French realist animal sculptor, Pierre Jules (PJ) Mene (1810 - 1879) that is entitled L'Accolade and depicts an Arabian mare and stallion courting. The figural was initially titled Tachiani and Nedjebe and was first sculpted from red wax a=with a black patina and shown at the 1855 Exposition Universelle. It was again show at the 1855 Exposition in a bronze version and Mene won a medal for it that year. This is one of his most popular statues. Your figural however is a later casting from a finished piece; the musculature and veining in the bodies have been lost in this re-casting, the mane on the stallion has been reduced and the head is slightly higher. The piece is mounted on a marble plinth, has a very dark, nearly black patina and the signature is etched on the surface as opposed to molded in at the base. This was likely executed well into the 20th century. The estimate is based on actual past recorded auction sales of comparables of re-casts of this famous horse figural pair.