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AN ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE SIENA MARBLE AND EBONIZED PINE FIGURAL GROUP The figures mid-18th...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
AN ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE SIENA MARBLE AND EBONIZED PINE FIGURAL GROUP The figures mid-18th...
AN ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE SIENA MARBLE AND EBONIZED PINE FIGURAL GROUP

The figures mid-18th century, the base possibly later Of three grotesque dwarves playing blind man's bluff on a rectangular base with scrolled ends 7 X 51/2 X 16 IN. (18 X 14 X 41 CM)

$6,000-8,000

Provenance The Currie Collection at Minley Manor, Coombe Warren, Bertram Wodehouse and Richmond Terrace; thence by descent (sold Christie's London, December 7, 1995, lot 2).

BLIND MAN'S BLUFF GROTESCHI These blind man's bluff groteschi are inspired by Jacques Callot's (d. 1635) celebrated series of engravings, Varie figure Gobbi di Iacopo Callot fatto in firenza Ianno 1616. First depicted on pietra dura panels executed by Bacino del Bianco in the Opificio delle Pietra Dure, Florence (the panel illustrated in Anna-Maria Giusti, Pietre Dure. London, 1992, fig. 106, mirrors Callot's engravings of "Le Joueur de flogeolet"), Callot's engravings enjoyed a huge revival in the 18th Century with the publication of such volumes as W. Koning's Il Callotto Resuscitato oder Neu-eingerichtetes Zwerchen Cabinett. Amsterdam, 1716. This fashion for dwarves and groteschi ranged from Meissen porcelain and marquetry inlay to marzipan moulds and garden statuary (for instance, the lead figure of a dwarf at Longleat House, Wiltshire). With its ebonized and siena marble base, this desk-set was executed in Italy, and this form of base is shared with Italian bronzes acquired during the Grand Tour in the 18th century. the Flemish sculptor Walther Pompe (1703-1777) was producing similar figures in his workshop in Italy.

THE CURRIE COLLECTION The Currie Collection was formed by Bertram Currie between 1877-1890. Divided between his four houses, Minley Manor, Coombe Warren, Bertram Wodehouse and No. 1 Richmond Terrace, this eclectic collection embraced everything from Dresden china, English portraits and clocks, and Italian old masters, to the French decorative arts of the 18th century. Bought at such great sales as Hamilton Palace in 1882 and Blenheim Palace in 1886, as the privately printed 1909 catalogues of Coombe Warren and Richmond Terrace reveal, Currie's taste ranged from Louis XIV "Buhl" to Louis XV ormolu-mounted porcelain and bronzes d'ameublement
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