German, Nuremberg, early 17th century

Together with lot 63, these powerful bronze lions would have served to support a structure within a monument, such as a tomb or fountain, or perhaps as part of a grand collector’s cabinet. In their raised paws they would most likely have held now-lost coats of arms.

The richly curled manes and fierce grimaces exhibited by the beasts are imbued with a proto-Baroque spirit that is characteristic of Southern German bronze sculpture, influenced by the depiction of animals in Düreresque woodcuts. The stylised, voluminous rendering of the lions finds close parallels in works from Nuremberg, one of the primary centres of German bronze casting in the late Renaissance. Similarly stylised animals are found, for example, in table fountains by Benedikt Wurzelbauer, nephew of the famous founder Pankraz Labenwolf, who dominated bronze production in the Franconian city around 1600. 

The present lot is the subject of an expertise by Prof. Dr. Detlef Heikamp.