ALBERGHETTI WORKSHOPS, THIRD QUARTER 16TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE WINE-COOLER
ALBERGHETTI WORKSHOPS, THIRD QUARTER 16TH CENTURY
The tapering circular bowl with double handles and a repeating acanthus border above elaborate relief decoration with scrolling foliage, flowers and fantastical figures; the lower body gadrooned, above a spreading circular foot with further repeating decoration
9 in. (22.8 cm.) high; 12 in. (30.5 cm.) wide

Provenance

Purchased by Alfred Beit (1853-1906) by 1904.
Thence by descent to Lady (Clementine) Beit (1915-2005) by whom donated to the Alfred Beit Foundation in 2005.

Literature

W. Bode, The Art Collection of Mr. Alfred Beit at His Residence 26 Park Lane London, Berlin, 1904, p. 3, illustrated.
W. Bode, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1913, p. 111, no. 238, as 'Workshop or School of Riccio'.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
W. Bode, The Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance, ed. and rev. by J. Draper, New York, 1980, pls. CXX-CXXI.
P. Motture, Bells & Mortars and related utensils, London, 2001, pp. 96-98, 101-104, nos. 16, 18.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The elegant form of this bowl, used originally to keep wine cool, is closely comparable to a number of similar vessels illustrated in Bode's book on Italian bronze statuettes (loc. cit.) where he dates them to the quattrocento. However, in her recent book on the bells, mortars and other utilitarian bronzes in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Peta Motture illustrates a footed bowl of almost identical proportions, from the Museo Artistico Industriale, Rome, which is signed by Alfonso Alberghetti and dated 1572 (op. cit., fig. 14). That bowl also shares the identical handles and acanthus border with the present bowl, suggesting that they are the product of the same workshop.

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