BY BENEDETTO BOSCHETTI, ROME, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Benedetto Boschetti is first recorded in the 1840s as a mosaicist and then at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, winning a medal for two mosaic tables ‘remarkable for their taste and execution’. A ‘View of the Roman Court’ at the 1862 International Exhibition in London shows giallo antico marble models of ruins, an oil lamp and part of a large rosso antico marble tazze – all models known by Boschetti. His premises at 74 Via Condotti, Rome, are commended: 'the establishment is particularly conspicuous for its great variety of marble works, bronzes, candelabra, table-tops, etc. besides a rich collection of the best Mosaics’ (F. S. Bonfigli, Guide to the Studios of Rome, 1860, p. 101). Boschetti was also awarded at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, and at the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition, Chicago, showing Corinthian bronze statuettes of Julius Cesar, Mercury and Apollo Belvedere, as well as vases, candelabra, etc.
For objets d'art Boschetti preferred to carve relatively soft marbles, his favourites being Numidian giallo antico from Tunisia and Capo Tenaro rosso antico, from which the present gadrooned bowl is so masterfully worked. Rosso antico was one of the most used marbles in ancient Rome and the ancient inspiration is evident also in the shell shaped basin which recalls antique examples found at Pompei. The bronze hippocamps are derived from the Fontana dei Cavalli Marini (fountain of the Sea Horses) at the Villa Borghese, Rome, which was completed in 1791, and much admired by connoisseurs and visitors to Rome. This tazza is exemplary of Boschetti’s output, showing his skill in marble and bronze and brilliant design, conceived to appeal to the Grand Tourist.
Signed objects by Boschetti are rare, they include a giallo antico oil lamp in the Mario Praz Museum, Rome, and a rosso antico marble ‘Warwick vase’ in the Toledo Museum, Ohio, signed ‘B. Boschetti fece’. Another example of the present lot, signed ‘B Boschetti Roma’, identical with rosso antico tazza supported by hippocampi (differentiated only by its granito del foro triform plinth) sold Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 140 (£49,250).