Italian, Padua, early 16th century

art market, Paris, 1913
private collection, Basel, by 1930

L. Planiscig, Andrea Riccio, Vienna, 1927, pp. 180-182, pl. 200
L. Planiscig, Piccoli bronzi italiani del rinascimento, Milan, 1930, p. 19, pl. LXXVII
J. Bliss, 'A renaissance acrobat lamp by Andrea Riccio: its mistaken history as an ancient bronze', Source: notes in the history of art, XIV, 3, 1995

Overall the condition of the bronze is good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There are a number of small nicks to the surface, particularly to the back. There are remnants of an old black lacquer patina. There are a few small lacunae and a few small fissures, including one to the proper left side of the lower back, near the mount. The lip of the lamp is cast separately and there is a visible joint, which is open at the bottom. There are a few small spots of greening, including to the proper right leg and arm. There is dirt to some of the crevices, particularly at the abdomen. There is minor wear to the base.
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This amusing oil-lamp shows a contortionist bent double with his head thrust between his legs. When lit, he would appear to be breathing fire from his bottom.

Other oil lamps of this composition are known and present two different means of support, either resting on a base or suspended from a loop. This is a particularly fine cast of the former type and it was illustrated by Planiscig in 1927 (op.cit.) mounted on a raptor’s talon, a form of mount usually associated with Severo Calzetta de Ravenna.

The earliest-recorded cast (loop-suspension type) was listed in an inventory taken in 1584 of statues belonging to Duke Alfonso II d’Este, as 'believed to be modern', i.e. not ancient Roman. However, by the late 18^th century these oil lamps were frequently regarded as ancient bronzes. Bernard de Montfaucon, the French antiquarian, illustrated three of them (op.cit., pl. 152), remarking that 'the three following lamps on this plate…seem made to show either what the workman, or he who commanded the work, could possibly imagine most odd and extravagant, and do not want any further explanation.' A loop-suspension example in the Bargello, Florence, was drawn by Fragonard who later included it in the foreground of The Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery, the celebrated depiction commissioned by Queen Charlotte of Great Britain and Ireland in 1772.

RELATED LITERATURE
B. de Montfaucon, L’antiquité expliquée et representée en figures, Paris 1719, V, II, pl. 152; G. Mariacher, Bronzetti veneti del rinascimento, Venice, 1971, pp. 29-30, no. 79