A LARGE BRONZE MORTAR

ITALIAN (PARMA), DATED 1782, CAST BY DOMENICO BARBORINI

Details

A LARGE BRONZE MORTAR
ITALIAN (PARMA), DATED 1782, CAST BY DOMENICO BARBORINI
The tapering body decorated with masks issuing garlands of fruit, flowers and birds, with handles cast with female masks, inscribed 'JOSEPH MONTANARI FECIT FVNDERE A DOMINICO BARBORINI PARM AN DOM MDCCLXXXII'
13½in. (34cm.) high, 15¼in. (39.5cm.) diameter

Provenance

Stephano Bardini, sold American Art Galleries, New York, 23 April 1918, lot 89

Lot Essay

This mortar is of a much earlier design from the Baroque period, of which an example dated 1636 and signed by Vincenzo Barberini (presumably an ancestor of Domeninco) was sold by Parke-Bernet from the Irma N. Straus Estate, New York, on 19 March 1971, lot 199.

Domenico Barborini was a foundryman active in Parma 1763-81 casting bells for various major churches (see Thieme Becke, Lexikon der Bildender Kunstler, Leipzig, II, p. 480).