Completed British 20th C, except portraits, Continental European after 1800, East of England and The Midlands: Artists and Subjects, Sculpture 16 Could this be a bronze by the Croatian sculptor Petar Palavicini (1888–1958)?

The Collection has commented: 'The provenance is the Funduklian collection. Arto Funduklian, son of an Armenian refugee living in Manchester, went to learn the oriental goods market in Paris in the 1920s. While there, he purchased several artworks, mostly prints and engravings by contemporary artists. He moved to New York (where he died), leaving his collection with his brother Vahe who remained in Manchester in the textile industry. Vahe collected a few more pieces by contemporary artists before retiring to Buxton with the third brother Naz. The collection was bequeathed in 1980. The documentation includes three sculptures including Babylisse (written as this) but no artist ascribed. I assume that the then curator identified the artist and I've no idea of the source. The suggestion that this is Palavicini is appealing, but is it not too few letters before the v on the signature?’

More about Buxton’s Funduklian connection is explored in three blog posts https://bit.ly/3dzV81 | https://bit.ly/2UiAUSO | https://bit.ly/3Angzw4

Based on the attached enlarged view of image #8, I now think it may not be part of the signature but rather a reference to this piece being 1/5 or 1/6, referring to the number of versions made.

I suppose the title might conceivably be an Armenian name or word, but I am not at all familiar with that language.

I agree with Jacinto that image 8 appears to be the edition number, most probably 1/5. From an example I have seen in Sotheby's records Petar Palavicini appears to have signed his work with his surname only.

The first composite is based on the Pallavicini work on Invaluable.com that Jacinto mentioned in the introduction to this discussion.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/petar-palavicini-1888-1958-239-c-6eb432fb5d

The National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, has a work by Pallavicini dated 1922 that is signed with his first initial and his surname. The second composite is based on that work.

https://nmmu.hr/en/2022/08/02/petar-pallavicini-don-quixote-1922/

Thank you, Marcie. I'm afraid the signature on our work, albeit hard to make out, may not be Pallavicini, so my original theory may have been a sort of near miss.

This Bosnian website on the sculptor shows a group of figures that share many similarities to this discussion's work:

http://www.blic.rs/kultura/vesti/milozvucne-figure-linije-koja-tece/0558226

Also, this Russian-language Wikipedia page gives his birth date as the 15th June 1887, and not as the date suggested in this discussion of 1888:

https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Петар_Палавичини

Yes, Kieran, that is the maddening thing, that the style seems to fit Pallavicini but the signature, athough with the same initials, refuses to cooperate sufficiently, as it were.

It should also be noted that the suggested artist Pallavicini used two letters L in his signature on several bronzes that can be seen online.

Jacinto, can we assume that there was no writing evident on the other two sides of the base that have not yet been mentioned in this discussion?

Also, this could be a work by a student of Pallavicini, as he appears to have had some:

https://royalfamily.org/june-2014-works-of-vladeta-piperski/

It also could easily be the case that if this piece is by an Eastern European artist from a Russian speaking region, the two obvious first letters could be Cyrillic Ps, which would be pronounced as two Rs in English.

There are only close-ups of the back and the side on the figure's right. Enlarging the images of the front and the side on the figure's left shows no definite writing, though the front side is equivocal (I suppose, if there is writing there, it would be the title).

....that last bit might more accurately read as:

would be pronounced as two English Rs.

I can't see any inscriptions on the front or other side of the base (images attached).