Design for a dish with putti dancing, and others around a herm, before an arcade, with satyrs drinking wine in the foreground

Giardini was one of the most prominent craftsmen in bronze, silver and gold in Rome, and was appointed Goldsmith to the Camera Apostolica in 1698. A contract with Massimiliano Giuseppe Limbach in 1712 for 100 engravings of drawings by Giardini suggests that he also enjoyed a considerable reputation as a draughtsman.
A similar drawing to the present one was sold in these Rooms 26 November 1974, lot 199, having come from an album sold at Sotheby's, 10 November 1954, lot 32. Three other drawings from that album, and formerly in the Kaufmann collection, were exhibited in Portsmouth, College of Art and Design, Fantastic and Ornamental Drawings, 1969, nos. 96-8.