CIRCLE OF DESIDERIO DA FIRENZE, SECOND QUARTER 16TH CENTURY

細節

A BRONZE FIGURE OF MERCURY
CIRCLE OF DESIDERIO DA FIRENZE, SECOND QUARTER 16TH CENTURY
Depicted nude, standing and holding a money bag in his left hand; on a triangular base inscribed in red on the underside with the inventory number '248' and supported by three lion's paw feet; blackish brown patina with warm brown high points
9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm.) high

來源

Purchased by Alfred Beit (1853-1906) by 1904.
Thence by descent to Lady (Clementine) Beit (1915-2005) by whom donated to the Alfred Beit Foundation in 2005.

出版

W. Bode, The Art Collection of Mr. Alfred Beit at His Residence 26 Park Lane London, Berlin, 1904.
W. Bode, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1913, p. 112, no. 248, as 'Unknown Paduan artist'.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Warren, 'The Faun who Plays on the Pipes', in Small Bronzes in the Renaissance, New Haven and London, 2001, D. Pincus ed., pp. 82-103.
V. Krahn, Bronzetti Veneziani - Die venezianischen Kleinbronzen der Renaissance aus dem Bode-Museum Berlin, Berlin, 2003, pp. 132-134, no. 32.

注意事項

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.

拍品專文

Mercury is perhaps the most easily recognisable of the twelve gods of Olympus with his caduceus, and his winged helmet and sandals. Here, the young god is depicted in his role as god of commerce, holding a money bag in his left hand.

This figure is known - with slight variations in the positioning of the arms - in a small number of casts including examples in the Museo Schifanoia in Ferrara and the Bode Museum in Berlin. Although long associated with Riccio and his circle, the model has more recently been associated with Desiderio da Firenze by Jeremy Warren (loc. cit.). This was on the basis of similarities between the Berlin example and a bronze figure of Pan in the Ashmolean Museum which Warren also attributes to Desiderio. However, the attribution has not found general acceptance, and in his entry on the model in the catalogue of Venetian bronzes in Berlin, Volker Krahn (loc. cit.) attributes the model to Padua in the second quarter of the 16th century. An example was recently sold, without the base, at Sotheby's in London (8 July 2003, lot 73) for £48,000 hammer price.