A French painted cast iron figural torchere, late 19th century, stamped 'Tusey Meuse', the maiden portrayed as standing and draped in the classical manner, the torchere with glass shade held aloft in her raised right hand, 215cm high Pierre-Adolphe Muel established a foundry at Tusey in the Meuse district between 1832 and 1835, gaining royal permission from Louis Philippe to install a blast furnace in 1837. The foundry is known to have specialised in statuary and decorative ironwork although cast iron pieces bearing the foundry's stamp are rare. Artistic production ceased at the outbreak of the First World War, when the foundry was given over to munitions production