A bronze figure of an athlete holding a vase

Details
A bronze figure of an athlete holding a vase
after Massimilliano Soldani-Benzi, Italian, probably 18th century -- 12in. (30.5cm) high

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

C. Avery and C. Keeble, Florentine Baroque Bronzes and other Objects of Art, Toronto, 1975, pp. 42-3.

Soldani executed a series of bronze statuettes after various ancient and modern sculptures in the Ufizzi, which are recorded in the form of two separate documentary sources. One is the 1730 inventory of bronzes in the Dusseldorf Gallery, where it features as 'Ein von Bronso geggosserne Statua mit einer krug in der Handt': the other is a list of Docci porcelain models, in which it is described as No. 18 'Atleta con vaso in ambo le mani, c albero di Palmi alla gamba destra' (this latter feature being a later addition).

The present bronze is based on one of the Antique marbles in the Ufizzi; other examples are in the Bargello (gilded and therefore a pendant to a gilt Leda, also by Soldani, in the same collection); the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich; the Herzog Anton -- Ulrich Museum in Brunswick; and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (Avery and Keeble, op. cit.).

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