Lot Essay
This lot is sold with a Thermoluminescence Analysis from Oxford reporting that the material from the two samples was last fired between 360 and 560 years ago.
The present relief is very similar to a medallion bust of a youth in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Marquand op.cit.) which was originally in the collection of Count G. Stroganoff, Rome, then in that of Henry G. Marquand, New York, and was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in 1903. The frames of both examples are very similar, consisting of a wreath of pine cones alternating with quinces and oranges. This motif relates closely similar to the Stemma of Antonio di Lorenzo Buondelmonti at Valdarno which is dated 1475 (cf. Marquand, no.136, op.cit.).
Other related examples are in the Spitzer Collection, the Rudolph Kann Collection and the Liechtenstein Collection.
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525) was the nephew of Luca della Robbia (circa 1400-1481). He trained with Luca, and matriculated in the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e di Legnami in 1458. He continued the distinctive della Robbia glazed terracottas on the death of his uncles and had twelve children, of whom three became sculptors in Florence in the della Robbia tradition: Giovanni, Luca and Girolamo.
The present relief is very similar to a medallion bust of a youth in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Marquand op.cit.) which was originally in the collection of Count G. Stroganoff, Rome, then in that of Henry G. Marquand, New York, and was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in 1903. The frames of both examples are very similar, consisting of a wreath of pine cones alternating with quinces and oranges. This motif relates closely similar to the Stemma of Antonio di Lorenzo Buondelmonti at Valdarno which is dated 1475 (cf. Marquand, no.136, op.cit.).
Other related examples are in the Spitzer Collection, the Rudolph Kann Collection and the Liechtenstein Collection.
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525) was the nephew of Luca della Robbia (circa 1400-1481). He trained with Luca, and matriculated in the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e di Legnami in 1458. He continued the distinctive della Robbia glazed terracottas on the death of his uncles and had twelve children, of whom three became sculptors in Florence in the della Robbia tradition: Giovanni, Luca and Girolamo.