Attributed to Giovanni della Robbia (1449-1529/30) Italian, Florence, circa 1520-1530

Overall the condition of the terracotta is good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. The face, beard and hair may have been polychromed. There are minor chips to the edges and a firing hole to the reverse
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This impressive bust, attributed to Giovanni della Robbia, presents the viewer with an iconic representation of Christ. The Redeemer, his pose near symmetrical, calmly stares straight ahead, his lips slightly parted, as if about to speak. The present figure compares with another bust of Christ by Giovanni della Robbia, which was sold in these rooms on 7^th December 2010, lot 38. The figures are clad in the same porphyry-coloured tunic with a blue mantle over the proper left shoulder, colours that are entirely consistent with Della Robbia workshop practice. They are also close in terms of truncation and, of course, in having unglazed faces and necks.

Another bust of Christ by Giovanni, in the V&A (inv. no. 476-1864), makes an interesting comparison as the tunic clasp is very similar to that in the present bust. The hair exhibits the same thickness and proliferation of curls, the eyebrows are likewise fully modelled and there are similar lines under the eyes. The comparison between these busts highlights Giovanni's inventive approach to his models. Each presents Christ in a difference aspect, whilst retaining correspondences in palette, truncation and in certain facial characteristics (the beards and mustaches are almost identical). In this last respect they echo Verrochio's Christ from the Christ and St John group at Orsanmichele, Florence.

Giovanni della Robbia was trained in the workshop of his father Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525). His work is characterised by expressive figures and the use of bold polychrome glazes. His most ambitious project was a series of roundels with busts for the Certosa del Galluzzo near Florence. The roundels, which were installed in 1523, included a bust of Christ, which can be compared to the present bust (Marquand, op. cit. p. 171, fig. 116). A further comparison, particularly in the close arrangement of the thick hair and the eyebrows, can be found in the figure of St James in Giovanni's lunette with The Madonna and Child Between Saints at S. Jacopo di Ripoli in Florence (Marquand, op. cit. pp. 176-7, no. 180), dated to circa 1520-1530.

RELATED LITERATURE
G. Gentilini (ed.), I Della Robbia. Il dialogo tra le Arti nel Rinascimento, exhib. cat. Museo Statale d'Arte Medievale e Moderna, Arezzo, 2009; A. Marquand, Giovanni della Robbia, Princeton and London, 1920, pp. 24, 118, 167-74, 177, nos. 14, 120, 172, 180, figs. 13, 69, 116, 127; J. Pope-Hennessy, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, vol. i, pp. 232-3, vol. ii, p. 156, no. 232, fig. 227

This lot is offered with a thermoluminescence analysis report issued by M.I.D.A. di Claudio Falcucci, the analysis carrried out by ARCADIA Tecnologie per i Beni Culturali di Giovanna la Pietra & C., stating that the sample (reference no. 317A (VBC.01 M.I.D.A.)) was consistent with the proposed 15th century date.