Giovanni Zoffoli, like his contemporary Francesco Righetti, produced small scale bronzes after famous statues in considerable numbers. The majority of his works were copies after the antique, but there were exceptions. One such is the present version of Giambologna's Mercury, which appears in Zoffoli's catalogue 'Serie di figure fatte, e da farsi in bronzo' as the 'Mercurio Volante di Villa Medici', and was available at a cost of 20 zecchini (Haskell and Penny, loc. cit.)