CIRCLE OF BARTOLOMEO CAVACEPPI (1716-1799), LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF ITALIAN MARBLE BUSTS OF GETA AND PLAUTILLA
CIRCLE OF BARTOLOMEO CAVACEPPI (1716-1799), LATE 18TH CENTURY
Each on a later marbleised waisted socle
The busts: 26 in. (66 cm.) high
The columns: 44 in. (112 cm.) high

Special notice

All sold and unsold lots marked with a filled square in the catalogue that are not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the day of the sale, and all sold and unsold lots not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the fifth Friday following the sale, will be removed to the warehouse of ‘Cadogan Tate’. Please note that there will be no charge to purchasers who collect their lots within two weeks of this sale.

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Lot Essay

This pair of busts depict the tragic young figures Publius Septimus Geta son of emperor Septimus Severus, and his sister-in-law Plautilla who were vehemently murdered by Geta's older brother Caracalla in 211 AD. The Grand Duke, Cosimo III de'Medici (1642-1723) had two Antique marble examples on display at Uffizi, Florence which were the source of Grand Tour copies, commissioned in both marble and bronze, to meet the British appetite for all things Antique in the 18th century.

A pair of exquisite bronze examples cast by Pietro Cipriani (c. 1679-1745) were sold from the Grand Tour collection of Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield (1666-1732), Christie's, London, 1 December 2005, lot 81.

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