A pair of Italian neoclassical marble tazza, Rome, 19th century, in the manner of Valadier

The figures are modelled after the Atlas figures from the Fontana dei Facchini of Villa Albani, later Villa Albani-Torlonia. This fountain was rendered in a tazza part of the de Breteuil surtout de table, designed by Luigi Valadier (1726-1785) - illustrated Alvar González-Palacios, Luigi Valadier, 2018, fig. 4_6, p.133. Made for the Bailli de Breteuil (1723-1785); ambassador of the Order of Malta in Rome and in Paris, this surtout was then sold to Empress Catherine II of Russia in 1777 and is now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.