A pair of Italian neoclassical style marble and patinated bronze tazze
Estimate
2,000 - 4,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
modelled as four standing male figures supporting a marble bowl gadrooned to its exterior, raised on a circular base
26cm high, 13.5cm wide; 10 1/4in., 5 3/8in.
The figures are modelled after the Atlas figures from the Fontana dei Facchini of Villa Albani, later Villa Albani-Torlonia (see the print by Piranesi of Villa Albani). This fountain was rendered in a tazza part of the de Breteuil surtout de table, designed by Luigi Valadier (1726-1785) - illustrated in Alvar González-Palacios, Luigi Valadier, 2018, fig. 4_6, p.133. Made for the Bailli de Breteuil (1723-1785); ambassador of the Order of Malta in Rome and in Paris, this surtout was then sold to Empress Catherine II of Russia in 1777 and is now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. The three figures also inspired Francesco and Luigi Righetti, see a centrepiece at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples (ill. Alvar Gonzàles-Palacio, Il Gusto dei Principi, Milan, 1993, p.269, fig. 536) and their design for surtout de table in the Museo di Roma (ill. Alvar González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, 1986, Vol. II., p.124, fig.267).
