A pair of Italian painted and parcel-gilt figures, Genoa or Venice, early 18th century

By the eighteenth century, Italy’s powerful ports like Genoa and Venice had trading links with cities all over the world, allowing a distinctive artistic tradition to arise in these localities – the vibrant colouring of Venetian painting, for example, is a result of the global array of pigments available in the city. This cosmopolitanism is also why stylised figures of black men and women appear so frequently in Venetian art in particular, often with rich brocades and fanciful ceremonial dress that is either parcel-gilt, painted or depicted with lush use of polychrome materials like marble and precious stones. The somewhat loaded historical term for these figures, ‘blackamoor’, derives from ‘Moor’, a flexible designation that generally referred to the populations of the Maghreb but in practice was often conflated with the populations of sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East.

Many of these stylised figures in decorative art are variations of the typical ‘Atlas’ conceit of a human figure holding aloft a tabletop, candle nozzle or similar, but the present pair are unusual in a more gestural treatment without an item above that makes them closer to standalone sculptures than pieces of decorative art with a function. The rockwork base is also less common than a more classical plinth, and is a clear gesture towards the Rococo penchant for rockwork and other natural forms across the decorative arts. Though they are holding candle arms, there is a pair of figures that is closely similar to the present lot that sold at Sotheby’s London, An Italian Aristocratic Collection, 8 December 2015, lot 7.