L12231

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Lot 48
  • 48

Attributed to Girolamo Campagna (1549-circa 1625) Italian, Venice, late 16th century

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • salt cellar in the form of a man bearing a scallop shell
  • gilt bronze
  • Attributed to Girolamo Campagna (1549-circa 1625) Italian, Venice, late 16th century

Provenance

Dr. Max Emden, Hamburg,
his sale, Berlin, P. Graupe and H. Ball, 3-8 June 1931, lot 105,
Peel and Humphris Ltd., London,
J.J. Klejman, New York,
private collection, New York
by whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 8 June 2007, lot 438

Condition

Overall the condition of the bronze is good. There is some minor wear and dirt to the surface consistent with age including rubbing to the gilding consistent with handling. There is somem minor pitting to the surface and there are two small drilled holes to the shell.
"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."

Catalogue Note

The present bronze has been requested for the exhibition The Pageant of Venice: Art and Music in the Golden Age of the Serenissima in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from 1 October 2013 to 19 January 2014.

Two other casts of this model, both not gilt and seemingly unfinished,  are in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples and one was once in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, according to Bode (op.cit.). The present gilt cast is fully chased and tooled and seems to be one of the finer examples of the model. The variant with the younger, kneeling, rather than the older standing, man bearing the shell has also consistently been attributed to Campagna based on his use of kneeling supporters such as the angels supporting the altar of the Sacrament in S. Giuliano or the pair of angels carrying cornucopia candlesticks now on an altar of the church of the Carmini, Venice.

RELATED LITERATURE
W. Bode, The Italian bronze statuettes of the renaissance, rev. ed. by James D. Draper, 1980, pl. CLXXI; N. Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, vol.1 Italian, Oxford 1992, nos. 243 and 244; L. Ambrusio and F. Capobianco (eds.), La Collezione Farnese di Capodimonte, I Bronzetti, Naples 1995, no. 26