NORTH GERMAN, POSSIBLY BRUNSWICK, CIRCA 1540-1580

Details

A BRONZE FOUNTAIN FIGURE OF VENUS
NORTH GERMAN, POSSIBLY BRUNSWICK, CIRCA 1540-1580
The breasts drilled for water spouts
32 3/8 in. (82.4 cm.) high

Provenance

The Cyril Humphris Collection, sold Sotheby's, New York, 11 January 1995, lot 137.
Giancarlo Baroni; until sold Sotheby's, New York, 31 January 2013, lot 368.

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Donald Johnston

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Lot Essay

A comparable pair of North German bronze fountain figures, depicting Adam and Eve, with similar solid modelling and small square bases, were exhibited at the Heim Gallery, London, Seven Centuries of European Sculpture, Summer Exhibition, 9 June - 27 August 1982, no. 11. Depicting the ancient goddess of love, Venus, who was mythologically born from water, the present figure may have acted as a house fountain or as one of a group of similar figures for a garden fountain.

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