ITALIAN, PROBABLY PADUAN, 16TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE MODEL OF A CRAB
ITALIAN, PROBABLY PADUAN, 16TH CENTURY
The carapace cast separately and hinged creating a small compartment; the hinge decorated with a fleur-de-lys.
With a medium brown patina and lighter high points; one of the rear left legs and the tip of a claw lacking.
6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm.) wide

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
M. Leithe-Jasper, Renaissance Master Bronzes from the Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Vienna, 1986, no. 16.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

In his entry on a virtually identical example in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Leithe-Jasper (loc. cit.), discusses how these casts were originally made from nature. The carapace is cast separately and hinged to the back thus converting it into a small container.

Padua produced large numbers of these small bronze studies from life, especially frogs, snakes and lizards. The fascination behind this particular model is not antiquarian or even scientific, but related to astrology - Leithe-Jasper suggests this particular model was prefered by people born under the sign Cancer.

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