Tigre- A striking, vital, patinated cast bronze tiger by listed French artist, Joachim Costa (1888-1971). The piece is stamped with it's foundation location, the famed "F. Barbedienne, Fondeur Paris" which produced works by the renowned naturalist sculptor, Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875) and the iconic, August Rodin (1840-1917).

Costa studied at the École des beaux-arts de Paris and was well exhibited, showing at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon des Artistes Français. He broke definitively with his initial, naturalistic  teaching and advocated what he called "direct pruning". For him the sculptor must return to the tradition of the builders of cathedrals by abandoning the intermediate stage of modeling. "Our greatest virtue as sculptors, our greatest virtue is to be good architects." Costa believed that a beautiful orchestration of lines, and harmonious and synthetic volumes are enough to move us.  He won the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925 and was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor and the Cross of WWII prior to passing away at Narbonne on February 5, 1971.