Venetian, 18th century after the models by Nicolò Roccatagliata (active 1593-1636)

one putto blowing into a recorder and beating a drum, the other playing the flute; wire-brushed with various casting plugs and joints

Roccatagliata and his workshop produced many models of putti playing musical instruments in varying attitudes which continued to be cast long after his death. A pair of lifetime casts of the present bronzes are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, formerly in the castle of Il Cataio near Padua, which show they were intended as pendants from inception. A set of four musical putti which included the present models were offered by Drouot Montaigne, 26th March 1992, lot 63 attributed to the Roccatagliata workshop and a gilt bronze pair, stamped with the crowned 'c', were offered in these rooms on 18th November 1982, lot 115.

RELATED LITERATURE
Leithe-Jasper, pp.185-87, cat. nos. 48-8