Carl Kauba (1865-1922) was an Austrian sculptor who was born in Vienna, where he later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and subsequently travelled to Paris to study his craft further. Inspired by the books he read as a child, his subjects are typically of Native American descent, cavalry, and cowboys. Kauba also worked under the pseudonyms T.Curts and Karl Thenn, and left much of his work unsigned. Although his work is characterised by unusual subject matter for an Austrian, perhaps, his level of detail and realistic form make his sculptures excellent examples of Viennese bronzes at the turn of the twentieth century.

This figure is one of Kauba's metamorphic pieces, and is likely an example of his 'Naughties' series which were a collection of popular push button sculptures and often in the form of erotic nudes. The Egyptian-styled statuette depicts a female nude in something akin to an iron maiden, which in popular culture was once thought to be a medieval torture device although evidence is sparse with narratives referring to such a device only surfacing at the start of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, when read symbolically and removed from the eroticism of Kauba's interpretation, this subject might thus also reference transformation in some way or spiritual cleansing.