Lot 63
63
A PAIR OF SOUTH GERMAN GILTWOOD FIGURES depicting the Continents of Asia and America, the former with a turbanned figure holding a tasselled cushion, the latter with crowned head and garlanded rose above a feathered skirt, each on serpentine-fronted rectangular base, the crowned figure lacking his right arm, early 18th Century

Details
A PAIR OF SOUTH GERMAN GILTWOOD FIGURES depicting the Continents of Asia and America, the former with a turbanned figure holding a tasselled cushion, the latter with crowned head and garlanded rose above a feathered skirt, each on serpentine-fronted rectangular base, the crowned figure lacking his right arm, early 18th Century
The former 15in. (38cm.) high
The latter 15¼in. (39cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

The representation of the four continents of the known world allowed artists to indulge their taste for exotic fancy, and such subject-matter was predictably popular with patrons. It reached its apogee in Giambattista Tiepolo's ceiling fresco for the Treppenhaus of the Archbishop's Palace at Würzburg

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