Two statues of veiled female figures in mourning pose at the entrance of the Ponsat family crypt

The entrance to the Ponsat family crypt at Pere-Lachaise cemetery, flanked by two bronze caryatids depicting veiled female figures in mourning pose. The statues, with bowed heads and hands clasped or raised to the face in grief, represent the classic iconography of the pleureuse, the weeping woman figure typical of 19th-century funerary art. The portal features floral decorations and a tympanum with vegetal motifs, while the dark wooden door with decorated panels completes the refined elegance typical of Parisian bourgeoisie mausoleums.

Pere-Lachaise, caryatids, mourning, crypt, Ponsat, funerary sculpture, bronze