North Italian, circa 1500

Frederic Spitzer (1815-1890), Paris,
his sale, Paul Chevallier and Charles Mannheim, Paris, 17 April to 16 June 1893, lot 1543
Albert Figdor, Vienna,
Lt. Colonel the Hon. Mildmay Thomas Boscawen, Cornwall, until 1950,
Sylvia Phyllis Adams, London,
her sale, Bonham's London, The Adams Collection Part IV. Important Renaissance plaquettes, 23 May 1996, lot 130

E. Molinier, Les bronzes de la Renaissance. Les Plaquettes, Catalogue Raisonné, Paris, 1886, no. 491
E. Molinier, La Collection Spitzer, Paris/London 1890-1892, vol. IV, pp. 127 and 142-143, no. 48

Overall the condition of the relief is good. Three is some minor wear and dirt to the surface consistent with age. There are a few nicks around the edge of the relief including a loss to the bottom left corner and a small stable fissure to the top left. There is a hole to each corner for mounting, the lower ones are plugged.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Two casts of the present relief were circulating among the best collections of works of art in the late 19th and early 20th century. One entered the Staatliche Museen in Berlin via the Stefano Bardini sale in 1902, was recorded there by Bange (op.cit.) in 1922, and was deaccessioned at auction in 1937 (Julius Bohler, Munich, 1-2 June 1937, lot 125) after which it seems to have been lost. The second example is the present one. It is first recorded in the collection of Frederic Spitzer and is described by Molinier in his introduction to the catalogue (op.cit.) as a work of outstanding craftsmanship and imagination. Via Figdor and Boscawen, whose outstanding eye for bronzes is commemmorated by his bequest in the Fitzwilliam museum, it entered the collection of Silvia Adams, one of the most prominent collectors of bronze of the final decades of the last century.

The same designs that adorn this plaquette also decorate the frieze on an important bronze vase in the Louvre (inv. no. MR 1719), thought to stem from the workshop of Giovanni Alberghetti, who was active in Venice around 1500. That a taste for such scenes existed in the Veneto at that time is clear from the Mythological battle scene signed by Camelio in the Ca' d'Oro (see Krahn, op.cit., no. 40). The naturalism employed here, however, could also point to a genesis in the circle of Antonio Pollaiuolo, who created comparable bronzes and prints in Florence.

RELATED LITERATURE
E.F. Bange, Die Italienischen Bronzen der renaissance und des barock. Reliefs und Plaketten, Berlin, 1922, vol.II, no. 559; V. Krahn (ed.), Von allen seiten schön. Bronzen der Renaissance und des Barock, exhib. cat. Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, pp. 222-223, no. 40