Italian, Venice, 17th Century

Blumenthal Collection;

Sotheby's New York, 26 January 2006, lot 438;

Where acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

North Italian 16th and 17th century sculptors working in bronze, such as Nicolò Roccatagliata, Andrea di Alessandro Bresciano, and Giuseppe de Levis, often employed similar design motifs in modelling their domestic objects, including candlesticks, making it difficult to distinguish between the artists and therefore establish authorship. A pair of candlesticks cast with similar acanthus-form stems, previously in the Estate of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. and formerly in the collection of the Davanzati Palace, was sold Sotheby's New York, 22 June 1989, lot 84.

RELATED LITERATURE

M. Ceriana and V. Avery (curs.), L'industria artistica del bronzo del Rinascimento a Venezia e nell'Italia settentrionale, exhibition catalogue, 23-24 October 2007, Venice 2008;

C. Avery, Joseph de Levis & Company : Renaissance bronze-founders in Verona, London 2016