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Lot Essay
In 17th century Italian courtly life the Gioco del Saccomazzone was a game played during the interludes of rustic dances. It involved two blindfolded men attempting to hit each other with a knotted cloth without lifting their left hands from an object in the middle of the room, while also shrieking imitations of bird cries. Orazio Mochi (1571-1625) originally conceived this comical composition in around 1620, as a large pietra serena group in the Boboli gardens, Florence (Pratesi, loc. cit.) proves. Although, it is popularly thought to be the work of Romolo Ferrucci del Tadda, it was Mochi who started the composition and, when he ran into difficulties in carving the brittle stone, he called on del Tadda's experience to help finish the group.
Mochi was employed from 1605 by Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as a maker of models in the court workshop and also specialised in hard-stone carvings. For models which Mochi intended to cast in bronze, he would have approached specialist founders such as Fra Domenico Portigiani (died 1601), Antonio Susini (died 1624) and Pietro Tacca (Giambologna's successor; died 1640). Indeed, Filippo Baldinucci, the 17th century chronicler, records that Mochi's model of the Gioco del Saccomazzone was reproduced in bronze as well as plaster and wax.
Various casts of the bronze exist; one attributed to Ferdinando Tacca (illustrated in Brook, loc. cit.), and at least two others that have been attributed to Gianfrancesco Susini (one formerly in the French Royal Collection (Paris, loc. cit.) and another in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein (Frankfurt, loc. cit.)). Although all three bronze versions are of a comparable size, minor differences, particularly in details of the clothing, are noticeable. The naturalistic base is not a common feature to Boboli gardens example or the Susini casts, but the degree of the working to the base, with its punched swirling forms and small worked shrubs, does remind one of the sorts of naturalistic bases that one sees on bronzes by Ferdinando Tacca.
Mochi was employed from 1605 by Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, as a maker of models in the court workshop and also specialised in hard-stone carvings. For models which Mochi intended to cast in bronze, he would have approached specialist founders such as Fra Domenico Portigiani (died 1601), Antonio Susini (died 1624) and Pietro Tacca (Giambologna's successor; died 1640). Indeed, Filippo Baldinucci, the 17th century chronicler, records that Mochi's model of the Gioco del Saccomazzone was reproduced in bronze as well as plaster and wax.
Various casts of the bronze exist; one attributed to Ferdinando Tacca (illustrated in Brook, loc. cit.), and at least two others that have been attributed to Gianfrancesco Susini (one formerly in the French Royal Collection (Paris, loc. cit.) and another in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein (Frankfurt, loc. cit.)). Although all three bronze versions are of a comparable size, minor differences, particularly in details of the clothing, are noticeable. The naturalistic base is not a common feature to Boboli gardens example or the Susini casts, but the degree of the working to the base, with its punched swirling forms and small worked shrubs, does remind one of the sorts of naturalistic bases that one sees on bronzes by Ferdinando Tacca.