A lion attacking a horse

The prototype for the composition of the present lot is a fragmentary antique marble group now in the garden of the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome, which was restored in 1594 by Ruggiero Bescap with the horse's head bowed forward in surrender. The marble captured the attention of sculptors working in 16th and 17th centuries, in particular Giambologna, who helped popularise the subject through his own variations on the theme cast in bronze.