Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art

Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 95. ITALIAN, 17TH/18TH CENTURY | WINGED SKULL.

ITALIAN, 17TH/18TH CENTURY | WINGED SKULL

Auction Closed

July 2, 02:29 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

ITALIAN, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

WINGED SKULL


terracotta

30 by 42cm., 11¾ by 16½in. 

C. Ricasoli, in The Living Dead: Ecclesiastes through Art, exh. cat., Paderborn, 2018, no. III.1, pp. 126-127

Washington D.C., Museum of the Bible, The Living Dead: Ecclesiastes through Art, 2017-2018

The present terracotta is likely to have been made as a model for a marble winged skull, to be placed on a monument or tomb. Skulls were very popular features in Baroque art, and were modelled with great realism - including the protruding cheekbones and some even with missing teeth - as on the present skull. Compare also with a skull and crossbones, sold in these rooms, 10 December 2015, lot 402.