A PAIR OF ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE SERAPHIM, each with tightly curled hair and splayed wings, on scrolled feathered volutes and moulded spreading canted rectangular plinth, originally furniture mounts, with fitting to the reverse, probably Venetian, first half 17th Century

Details
A PAIR OF ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE SERAPHIM, each with tightly curled hair and splayed wings, on scrolled feathered volutes and moulded spreading canted rectangular plinth, originally furniture mounts, with fitting to the reverse, probably Venetian, first half 17th Century
5in. (12.5cm.) wide; 6¾in. (17cm.) high; 4in. (10cm.) deep (2)

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
L. Planiscig, Venezianische Bildhauer der Renaissance, Vienna, 1921, figs. 667-670

The facture of these mounts, together with several distinctive characteristics of the seraphim themselves, indicate an orign in Venetian foundries from the early decades of the 17th Century. The facial type and hair, (curled tightly at the temples and above the forehead), are particularly reminiscent of the many small bronzes executed by Niccolò Roccatagliata (active 1593-1636)

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