NORTH ITALIAN, PROBABLY VENETIAN, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF BRONZE BACCHIC PUTTI
NORTH ITALIAN, PROBABLY VENETIAN, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY
Each depicted standing, nude, and with grape vines in his hair; one pouring wine into a tazza from an urn and the other holding a tazza and grapes aloft; each on an integrally cast rectangular plinth and later square ebonised wood pedestal inscribed in red on the reverse '309' and '310', respectively; the former also with a circular gold label to the reverse inscribed 'THE BRITISH ANTIQUE DEALERS' ASSOCIATION CERTIFIED FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES ONLY OVER 100 YEARS OLD'; warm medium brown patina with traces of a blackish brown surface
5 and 5¼ in. (11.7 and 13.3 cm.) high; 8 and 8¼ in. (20.3 and 21 cm.) high, overall (2)

Provenance

Purchased by Alfred (1853-1906) or Otto Beit (1865-1930) between 1904 and 1913.
Thence by descent to Lady (Clementine) Beit (1915-2005) by whom donated to the Alfred Beit Foundation in 2005.

Literature

W. Bode, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1913, p. 120, no. 309 and no. 310, as 'Francois Duquesnoy, called Fiammingo'
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
W. Bode, Königliche Museen zu Berlin - Die Italienische Bronzen, Berlin, 1904, p. 25, no. 415, pl. XXVIII.

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

An example of the putto holding aloft the tazza and grapes was also part of the collection Bode formed for the Berlin museums (illustrated in Bode, loc. cit.). In his 1904 publication of the museum collection he attributed the composition to François Duquesnoy, a Flemish sculptor who spent most of his career in Italy. Duquesnoy was famous for his depictions of chubby putti, although the similarities to his oeuvre are not strong enough here to merit an attribution to him.

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