PARIS.- Yesterday, Wednesday July 6th, at Drouot-Montaigne in Paris, the Kneeling Fauness by Rodin, a 21 5/8 in. high marble statue, signed and dedicated on the base « au Maître Puvis de Chavannes », was auctioned by Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr and sold for €724,000. An emblematic figure in Rodin’s oeuvre, the Kneeling Fauness expresses well the ambivalence of the sculptor’s feelings towards women, both muses and temptresses. Beyond the appearance of a nude woman stretching out and offering up her delicate body lurks a predatory creature. Signed and dedicated on its base « Au Maître Puvis de Chavannes », this 21 5/8 in. high statue, created in 1887, was executed in marble circa 1890. Conceived for The Gates of Hell, a major work on which Rodin worked until the end of his life, this extraordinary piece fully reveals the sculptor’s genius, through the brilliant modelling of the body and delicacy of b