Peruvian, Ayacucho School

The Three Magi

ca. 1800

Ferdinand Barbedienne (Saint-Martin-de-Fresnay 1810 – 1892 Paris) after Lorenzo Ghiberti (Florence, 1378 – 1455) Signed at the lower right of the principal relief: F. BARBEDIENNE Provenance: Private Collection, USA. Barbedienne’s “Gates of Paradise” reliefs are one of the triumphs of nineteenth-century bronze casting and patination. The nine panels that comprise our example are half-size reductions of the famous originals by Lorenzo Ghiberti, made for the Baptistery of Florence and now housed in the Museo del Opera del Duomo. Mounted in an impressive, mullioned frame surround, our work is an exceptional exemplar of the Renaissance Revival, the broadly influential style and movement that infused architecture, design, and artistic culture in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The central scene, The Story of Joseph, is perhaps the most celebrated of the entire series depicting as it does seven episodes from the Biblical narrative integrated into a single composition: Joseph cast by his brethren into the well, Joseph sold to the merchants, the merchants delivering Joseph to the pharaoh, Joseph interpreting the pharaoh’s dream, the pharaoh paying him honor, Jacob sending his sons to Egypt, and Joseph recognizes his brothers and returns home. The surrounding reliefs—two vertical figures in niches, two recumbent figures, and four portrait heads in roundels—are as well faithful reductions of Ghiberti’s original bronzes on other parts of the doors. The maker of these casts was the renowned 19th-century French fondeur Ferdinand Barbedienne. Gary Radke has recently written of this great enterprise: “The Parisian bronze caster Ferdinand Barbedienne began making half-sized copies of ancient and Renaissance sculpture in the 1830s. His firm benefitted enormously from the collaboration of Achille Collas, whom Meredith Shedd has shown was one of numerous pioneers in the mechanical reproduction of sculpture. Their competitors largely devoted themselves to reproducing relief sculpture, but Collas devised a process for creating fully three-dimensional copies. A tracing needle, powered by a treadle, moved over the surface of a full-sized plaster cast or bronze of the original and triggered a complementary action in a cutting stylus set over a soft plaster blank…He signed an exclusive contract with Barbedienne on November 29, 1838, and won medals for his inventions in 1839 and 1844. Barbedienne’s half-sized copies of the Gates of Paradise were famous not only for their fidelity to the original, but also for the way their gilding…suggested the glimmering surface that was hidden under centuries of dirt. Some critics even saw Collas’s and Barbedienne’s work as ‘philanthropic, an exemplary adaptation of industry to the requirements of art, the artist, the workers, and the public alike.’ At 25,000 francs, Collas’s and Barbedienne’s reduction of the Gates of Paradise was singularly more expensive than any other item for sale in their shop. All the reliefs, individual statuettes, and busts were cast separately and could be purchased either by the piece or as an ensemble. Fittingly, Barbedienne’s accomplishment earned him the Grand Prix at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle, along with numerous other medals.” Three complete examples of the Barbedienne-Ghiberti doors are known. One, first installed in a chapel in the Villa Demidoff of San Donato near Pratolino, was later acquired by William Vanderbilt...

Signed, dated, and inscribed on the verso: Malvina Hoffman/ Den Pasar/ “Nipolog”-/ © 1932/ Bali Provenance: The artist; her estate. Literature: Mal...

Provenance: Private Collection, Spain. This intriguing and enigmatic sculpture depicts the head of a young African man emerging from a circular opening ...

Provenance: Sables de Fontainbleau, Seine-et-Marne, France “Gogottes” are natural creations formed out of sands deposited in Northern France during the Oligocene Period, approximately 30 million years ago. Much later, in a process that has only recently become understood, groundwater rich in silica flowed through the sands...

Provenance: Sables de Fontainbleau, Seine-et-Marne, France “Gogottes” are natural creations formed out of sands deposited in Northern France during the Oligocene Period, approximately 30 million years ago. Much later, in a process that has only recently become understood, groundwater rich in silica flowed through the sands...

Provenance: Sables de Fontainbleau, Seine-et-Marne, France “Gogottes” are natural creations formed out of sands deposited in Northern France during the Oligocene Period, approximately 30 million years ago. Much later, in a process that has only recently become understood, groundwater rich in silica flowed through the sands...

"Pair Recumbent Stone Lions" after Antonio Canova (1757-1822) Italian (possibly Florence) Mid 19th Century Alabaster, marble 6 x 9 x 4 inches This is an exquisite pair of Italian alabaster lions on marble bases based on the monumental lions carved by Antonio Canova (1757-1822), the greatest Italian neoclassical sculptor. Canova sculpted the marble lions for the monumental tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter’s, Rome in 1792 Canova Lions refers to the pair of copies of lion sculptures by Antonio Canova. When Canova created the sculptures in 1792, he installed them on the tomb of Pope Clement XIII. The marble sculptures are some of the most prominent features in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Given the intricacies of creating the original Canova lions, some artists created molds and replicated them. A good example is the pair of lion sculptures...

Early 20th C Italian Art Nouveau Alabaster Sculpture of a young female bather. Bather is seated on a stone with arms crossed in a mode...

White Alabaster Sculpture of Cleopatra, semi-nude in repose. Great detail in clothing and headdress. Face is sharply carved. Sculpture is strongly attributed to Eugenio Battiglia based on the style and theme. Battiglia recreated this particular Cleopatra sculpture...

A sensitively carved, solid alabaster, antique sculpture of famed Italian poet and philospher, Dante Aligheri (1265-1321). The figure in a rich, flowing robe, holding a book and wear...

Beautifully carved, Grand Tour period architectural model featuring fluted columns surmounted by Corinthian capitals and a relief carved pediment above a raised base inset with a fl...

Alabaster on steel 12 x 12 x 14 inches