Edward Kemeys

The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

Christie's New York, May 30, 1986, lot 147 (consigned by the above)

Wolf Family Collection No. 0846 (acquired from the above)

Edward Kemeys conceived of The Still Hunt as a heroic bronze panther poised on a large boulder situated at the 76th Street entrance of Central Park. Unveiled to the public on June 12, 1883, the large-scale version of The Still Hunt generated a great deal of attention for the artist and remains an iconic figure in Central Park to this day. It is poetic that Kemeys produced a bronze to adorn Central Park as his first commissioned work, considering he first became interested in pursuing a professional artistic career while observing a sculptor work on the Park's menagerie (now Zoo).

The present work is a reduction of this heroic bronze panther. It was previously deaccessioned from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in 1986, and has not been on the market since.