A bronze allegorical figure of the Greek poet Sappho, depicted holding a lyre and leaning against an Ionic column. Resting on the column are an unfolded scroll inscribed with verses from her 'Ode to Venus', a laurel and an upturned dish. Standing by her right side are a ewer and two cooing doves. First exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1848, this was Pradier's first work on this subject. A second bronze version, now at the Dahesh Museum in New York and practically identical to this one in the Royal Collection, was cast by the founder Victor Paillard in time for the 1851 London Great Exhibition. Pradier also brought for the 1851 Exhibition two small versions of the bronze, which he made in silver and gilt-bronze. Trained in the neo-classical tradition, much of Pradier's work involved decorative sculpture inspired by mythological and allegorical classical subjects.