Lot 60
60
A pair of ormolu and patinated bronze campana vases
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
A pair of ormolu and patinated bronze campana vases

AFTER THE ANTIQUE, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details
A pair of ormolu and patinated bronze campana vases
After the Antique, Late 19th/Early 20th century
Each with egg-and-dart overhanging rim, above a waisted body cast in relief with a continuous frieze of mythological figures, the acanthus lower section flanked to each side by a fluted handle centred by foliage, with bearded mask terminals, on fluted spreading socle and square plinth
19¾ in. (50.5 cm.) high (2)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The antique models for these vases come from entirely different sources, but were regularly copied as a pair from the middle of the seventeenth century, in a variety of media. Around 1569 the marble Borghese Vase was discovered in Carlo Muti's garden in Rome and then moved to the Villa Borghese by 1645 (it is currently in the Louvre collection). The vase depicts a Bacchic procession and it has been suggested that this includes a drunken figure of Silenus. The Medici Vase was displayed in the Villa Medici, Rome by 1598 and is currently in the Uffizi, Florence. This shows a sacrificial scene, once believed to be the fate of Iphigenia. As early as 1656, Stefano della Bella reproduced this vase in an engraving which may have encouraged the production of early copies. Some of the earliest copies are those in marble placed around the Bassin de Latone at Versailles. It has been suggested that this is a likely source for the manufacture of French versions in bronze, as all the major founders and sculptors of France were working for Louis XIV at the end of the seventeenth century.

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