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Lot Essay
In his entry on two salt cellars in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Nicholas Penny makes a previously unrecognised connection between the cellars - of which numerous casts exist - and a group of 'fanciful sketchy inkstands' of which three were included in the German version of the Giambologna exhibition catalogue of 1978 (locs. cit.). These inkstands each depict a putto sitting on a dolphin and holding a seashell, although the positioning differs in each case.
The present gilt-bronze inkwell can be added to this group, as the dolphin here is identical to those mentioned above in the collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It is also clear that the tritons of the Ashmolean salt cellars are closely comparable to the triton here. However, what the present lot also allows us to do is broaden the scope of those bronzes which can be attributed to the same sculptor - whom we might call the Master of the Duplicated Dolphins - because the triton seated atop the dolphin in this case is directly related to another whole group of bronzes which are often attributed to Francesco Fanelli.
The attribution to Fanelli was proposed by Anthony Radcliffe in his entry on two inkwells in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection (loc. cit.), where he sugggested that the facture of the first inkwell was identical to other known bronzes by Fanelli, and that the design could be compared to some printed designs done by Fanelli for fountains. This attribution was rapidly taken up by the art market. However, when one compares the group of inkwells which incorporate the triton evident here with other Fanelli bronzes such as his Nessus and Deianira (see lot 191), it becomes clear that there are no significant parallels. In particular, the heavily muscled torso and arms on the present inkwell betray a training which is much more classically oriented than the often genre-like characters of Fanelli's small bronzes. Fanelli's treatment of the human form, especially evident for his female figures but also for the males, is smoother and more stylised, with more attenuated limbs than one sees on either of the bronzes attributed by Radcliffe to Fanelli.
The present gilt-bronze inkwell can be added to this group, as the dolphin here is identical to those mentioned above in the collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It is also clear that the tritons of the Ashmolean salt cellars are closely comparable to the triton here. However, what the present lot also allows us to do is broaden the scope of those bronzes which can be attributed to the same sculptor - whom we might call the Master of the Duplicated Dolphins - because the triton seated atop the dolphin in this case is directly related to another whole group of bronzes which are often attributed to Francesco Fanelli.
The attribution to Fanelli was proposed by Anthony Radcliffe in his entry on two inkwells in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection (loc. cit.), where he sugggested that the facture of the first inkwell was identical to other known bronzes by Fanelli, and that the design could be compared to some printed designs done by Fanelli for fountains. This attribution was rapidly taken up by the art market. However, when one compares the group of inkwells which incorporate the triton evident here with other Fanelli bronzes such as his Nessus and Deianira (see lot 191), it becomes clear that there are no significant parallels. In particular, the heavily muscled torso and arms on the present inkwell betray a training which is much more classically oriented than the often genre-like characters of Fanelli's small bronzes. Fanelli's treatment of the human form, especially evident for his female figures but also for the males, is smoother and more stylised, with more attenuated limbs than one sees on either of the bronzes attributed by Radcliffe to Fanelli.