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Lot Essay
Drawn from the neoclassical designs of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, this finely carved Carrara marble tazza displays at its centre one of the most celebrated images of both classical and modern iconography: the Medusa Rondanini. Combining motifs derived from renowned antique marble vessels, the present work relates particularly closely to a rosso antico tazza in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (inv. no. CCXXI), attributed to the sculptor Lorenzo Cardelli (1733–1794).
The Borghese tazza is securely attributed to Cardelli on both stylistic and documentary grounds. Archival records confirm that the sculptor supplied numerous works to Prince Marcantonio Borghese during the 1780s, while a surviving receipt documents Cardelli's execution of a companion yellow alabaster bowl (inv. no. CI), which has formed the pendant to the rosso antico tazza since the late eighteenth century. The close correspondence in design, ornament and execution between the Borghese example and the present tazza strongly suggests a common artistic origin.
Lorenzo Cardelli was among the most distinguished decorative sculptors working in Rome during the final decades of the eighteenth century. His workshop on the Via Condotti stood adjacent to that of Antonio Canova, with whom he maintained a close professional relationship. Cardelli's clientele included some of the most prominent patrons of the age, among them the Princes Borghese, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, and the celebrated collector and connoisseur Lord Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol. He supplied sculptures, chimneypieces, restored antiquities and decorative marble objects to Roman aristocrats, foreign royalty and Grand Tour travellers, frequently working with antiquities acquired through or supplied by Piranesi himself.
By the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the ideals of Neoclassicism and a renewed scholarly engagement with the artistic and architectural legacy of ancient Rome had become firmly established throughout Europe. One of the movement's most influential figures was the architect, archaeologist, draughtsman and printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Through his widely disseminated engravings, Piranesi shaped contemporary perceptions of the Eternal City and exerted a profound influence on artists and craftsmen working in the classical taste.
The present tazza demonstrates this influence directly. Its design draws upon motifs illustrated in Piranesi's celebrated publication Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne ed ornamenti antichi (1778). The engraved title page depicts a related vessel whose broad dish is enriched with radiating leaves and centred by a classical mask, almost identical to this example. Further inspiration may be found in Piranesi's detailed engravings of the celebrated Warwick Vase, from which the present tazza appears to derive its distinctive scrolling handles.
The Borghese tazza is securely attributed to Cardelli on both stylistic and documentary grounds. Archival records confirm that the sculptor supplied numerous works to Prince Marcantonio Borghese during the 1780s, while a surviving receipt documents Cardelli's execution of a companion yellow alabaster bowl (inv. no. CI), which has formed the pendant to the rosso antico tazza since the late eighteenth century. The close correspondence in design, ornament and execution between the Borghese example and the present tazza strongly suggests a common artistic origin.
Lorenzo Cardelli was among the most distinguished decorative sculptors working in Rome during the final decades of the eighteenth century. His workshop on the Via Condotti stood adjacent to that of Antonio Canova, with whom he maintained a close professional relationship. Cardelli's clientele included some of the most prominent patrons of the age, among them the Princes Borghese, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, and the celebrated collector and connoisseur Lord Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol. He supplied sculptures, chimneypieces, restored antiquities and decorative marble objects to Roman aristocrats, foreign royalty and Grand Tour travellers, frequently working with antiquities acquired through or supplied by Piranesi himself.
By the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the ideals of Neoclassicism and a renewed scholarly engagement with the artistic and architectural legacy of ancient Rome had become firmly established throughout Europe. One of the movement's most influential figures was the architect, archaeologist, draughtsman and printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Through his widely disseminated engravings, Piranesi shaped contemporary perceptions of the Eternal City and exerted a profound influence on artists and craftsmen working in the classical taste.
The present tazza demonstrates this influence directly. Its design draws upon motifs illustrated in Piranesi's celebrated publication Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne ed ornamenti antichi (1778). The engraved title page depicts a related vessel whose broad dish is enriched with radiating leaves and centred by a classical mask, almost identical to this example. Further inspiration may be found in Piranesi's detailed engravings of the celebrated Warwick Vase, from which the present tazza appears to derive its distinctive scrolling handles.