18th Century and Earlier Sculptures

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...

Silver was the material of choice for both ecclesiastical and domestic vessels in the New World, not only for its status as a precious metal, but also because of its abundance and du...

(MADE TO ORDER) (Sabbath, Kiddush, Unique, Gold Luster) *Lead Time may vary between 1-3 weeks Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelai...

Wearing a chiton with a himation draped at the left shoulder, and a modius on the crown of his head, the god's characteristic luxuriant wavy hair falling in ri...

Four table sculptures - Concertino with musicians and singer. Venice, late 18th century. 9 x 7 x h 20 cm each. Entirely in wood, finely carved and painted in polychrome. Condition...

(MADE TO ORDER) (Sabbath, Kiddush, Unique, Gold Luster) *Lead Time may vary between 1-3 weeks Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k Germ...

A Chinese, Tang Dynasty, Sancai-glazed, three colors of brown, green and creamy, sculpture of a horse with a cut fur blanket. This Chinese, Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), glazed earthenw...

A bronze Thai Bell from the Dongson Culture (1000 BC-200 AD). The work is unsigned.

Antique, hand-carved statue of a man with traces of silver gilding.

Late 15th Century Florentine School Madonna with Child Bas-relief Pietra serena (a blue-gray sandstone) 85.5 x 60.5 cm Provenance: - via Stefano Bardini purchased in 1896 by Prince ...

Corpus Christi around 1150/70 Southern France or Catalonia carved oak wood

 height 109 cm, width 96 cm Remains of polychromy

Carpi, mid-17th century, scagliola panel. The panel, in black and white two-tone, features insertions of polychrome marbled elements and a central scene depicting St. Michael defeat...

After Michel Anguier French 1612-1686 Amphitrite Bronze This remarkable bronze masterpiece was cast after a High Baroque masterwork by French sculptor Michel Anguier. After traini...

Grande vierge en majesté de l'époque romane en bois polychrome. Cette Vierge à l'enfant inédite s'inscrit dans le corpus des Vierges romanes de Bourgogne. Marie est assise sur un trô...

18th Century Italian Carved Neoclassical Semi Nude Female Busts Wood affixed to wood plinths "Leone Della Torra / Italy Country of Origin" labels on b...

MUSEUM CORPUS CHRISTI Spain/Catalonia or Asturias Around 1250 Corpus hardwood, arms softwood Remains of the original polychrome setting Height 109.5...

Terracotta bust, portrait of young lady, Italy, Tuscany, second half of the 18th century. The bust, entirely hand-molded, depicts a young woman with an intricate hairstyle wearing ...

Provenance: Manuel Ortíz de Zevallos y García, Peru; and by descent in the family to: Private Collection, New York. This impressive baptismal dish is an example of eighteenth-cent...

This piece is a pot made by an unknown artist in Pre-Columbian Peru. It takes the shape of an owl and has a circular handle with the opening on its back. This pot is a light beige an...

"The Rape of the Sabine Women," veined alabaster, large sculptural group with classical subject, Volterra manufacture, 18th century. The so-called Rape of the Sabine Women is a scu...

Sitting Madonna Central Italy/Tuscany or Marche Around 1420 Poplar wood carved Original version Height 31 cm Charming Madonna sculpture from the heyday of the Soft or International...

OUTSTANDING MADONNA Bavaria Around 1515/20 Lime wood carved Original, polychrome version Height 60 cm This masterfully carved, full-round Madonna was created around 1515-20 in...

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This remarkably fluid terracotta bozetto was made in preparation for Pietro Pacilli’s most important public commission, a large-scale marble statue of San Camillo de Lellis for the nave of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Expressively modelled, this terracotta sculpture is a rare and significant work made by a major Roman sculptor at a transformative moment of European sculpture. Pacilli began his working life on the great Baroque decorative projects initiated in the seventeenth century, but he found success as a restorer of ancient sculpture working to finish antiquities for a tourist market, becoming an important figure in the emergence of an archaeologically minded Neoclassicism. Pacilli trained Vincenzo Pacetti and provided important decorative work for the Museo Pio-Clementino, at the same time he is recorded restoring some of the most celebrated antiquities excavated and exported during the period. Pacilli was born into a family of Roman craftsmen, his father Carlo was a wood carver, and Pacilli is recorded working with him on the Corsini Chapel in San Giovanni Laternao as early as 1735. In 1738 his terracotta model of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife won the first prize in the second class of the sculpture concorso at the Accademia di San Luca, this is particularly notable as Bartolomeo Cavaceppi came third. He worked as a carver and stuccoist completing works for the churches of San Marco and SS. Trinita dei Domeniciani Spagnoli. Pacilli operated as a sculptor and restorer of antiquities from his studio at the top of the Spanish Steps, close to Santa Trinita dei Monti, where he is listed as a potential vendor to the Museo Pio-Clementino in 1770. In 1763 Pacilli completed a silver figure of San Venanzio for the treasury of San Venanzio. He is recorded as Pacetti’s first master and it was evidently through Pacilli that he began to acquire his facility as a restorer of ancient sculpture. Pacilli, at his studio ‘poco prima dell’Arco della Regina alla Trinita dei Monti,’ exercised, what the nineteenth-century scholar, Adolf Michaelis called ‘rejuvenating arts’ on several important pieces of classical sculpture, including in 1760 the group of a Satyr with a Flute for the natural brother of George III, General Wallmoden, Hanovarian minister at Vienna. In 1765, Dallaway and Michaelis record that Pacilli was responsible for the restorations, including the addition of a new head, to the Barberini Venus which he had acquired from Gavin Hamilton. The Venus was then sold to Thomas Jenkins, who in turn passed it on to William Weddell at Newby Hall. In 1767 Pacilli exported a series of ancient busts ‘al naturale’ including portraits of Antinous, Julius Ceaser and Marus Aurelius, also a statue of a Muse and a Venus. As early as 1756 Pacilli seems to have been operating as an antiquarian, helping to disperse the collection of the Villa Borrioni. Pacilli supplied sculpture to notable British collectors, including Charles Townley, who on his first trip to Italy purchased the Palazzo Giustiniani statue of Hecate from Pacilli. Pacilli was involved with the Museo Pio Clementino from its conception, supplying busts of Julius Ceaser and a Roman Woman as well as completing stucco putti surmounting the arms of Pope Bendedict XIV to signal the entrance to the new Museo Critiano. In 1750 Il Diario Ordinario del Chracas announced that Pacilli had begun work on a sculpture of San Camillo de Lellis for St Peter’s. Camillo de Lellis founded his congregation, the Camillians, with their distinctive red felt crosses stitched on black habits in 1591. Having served as a soldier in the Venetian army, Camillo de Lellis became a novitiate of the Capuchin friars, he moved to Rome and established a religious community for the purpose of caring for the sick. In 1586 Pope Sixtus V formerly recognised the Camillians and assigned them to the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Rome. Camillo de Lellis died in 1614 and was entombed at Santa Maria Maddalena, he was canonised by Benedict XIV on June 26, 1746. It was an occasion that prompted the Camillians to make a number of significant artistic commissions, including two canvases by Pierre Subleyras showing episodes from San Camillo’s life which they presented to Benedict XIV. In 1750 Pacilli was commissioned to fill one of the large niches on the north wall of the nave with a sculpture of San Camillo. The present terracotta bozetto presumably had two important functions, to enable Pacilli to work out his ideas for the finished sculpture and at the same time to show his design to the various commissioning bodies. In this case it would have been Cardinal Alessandro Albani and Monsignor Giovan Francesco Olivieri, the ‘economo’ or treasurer of the fabric of St Peter’s. Previously unrecorded, this terracotta relates to a smaller, less finished model which has recently been identified as being Pacilli’s first idea for his statue of San Camillo. Preserved in Palazzo Venezia, in Rome, the terracotta shows San Camillo with his left hand clutching his vestments to his breast; the pose and action more deliberate and contained than the finished sculpture. In producing the present terracotta Pacilli has expanded and energised the figure. San Camillo is shown with his left hand extended, his head turned to the right, apparently in an attempt to look east down the nave of St Peter’s. The model shows Pacilli experimenting with San Camillo’s costume; prominently on his breast is the red cross of his order, whilst a sense of animation is injected into the figure through the billowing cloak which is pulled across the saint’s projecting right leg. The power of the restrained, axial contrapposto of bent right leg and outstretched left arm, is diminished in the final sculpture where a baroque fussiness is introduced to the drapery. What Pacilli’s terracotta demonstrates, is that he conceived the figure of San Camillo very much in line with the immediate tradition of depicting single figures in St Peter’s; the rhetorical gesture of dynamic saint, arm outstretched, book in hand, head pointed upwards was perhaps borrowed from Camillo Rusconi’s 1733 sculpture of St. Ignatius...

A hand-carved marble head of Mercury mounted on a stained wooden plinth.

Magnificent boxwood sculpture made in the famous workshop of Brustolon, a master carver active in the Veneto region between the 17th and 18th centuries. This masterpiece depicts the ...

Large roman carved marble fountain head representing a lion Rome, I-II Century AC Bonham's London, 22 September 1998, lot 485; formerly in the pr...

Pair of carved and gilded mirror cabinets 'in the manner of Sansovino' Venetian (or Tuscan) carver active in the 18th century Carved and gilded wood Total frame measurements: 86 x 6...

A Roman, Carrara marble sculpture of the mythological Greek god Pan as a fountain. Italy.

Antichità Castelbarco SRLS is proud to present: Flemish sculptor of the 17th century Pair of bas-relief panels depicting the Allegory of Spring and the Allegory of Autumn Oak wood ...

This extraordinary Italian bronze embodies all of the hallmarks of the very best Florentine sculptures of the 17th century. The work is crafted in the Mannerist style of the late Ren...

Exceptional 16th-century Neapolitan nativity scene, framed by a gilded frame with elegant marbled details in shades of green. The exquisitely decorated frame lends depth and prestige...

18th/19th Century Italian Infant Hercules Wrestling a Snake Alabaster 18 x 18 x 6 inches 40 lb. In Greek mythology, the infant Hercules (Heracles) is famously depicted wrestling wit...

LARGE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MARBLE CAPITAL Florence, 15th/16th Century marble 38 x 47 x 47 cm 15 x 18 1/2 x 18 1/2 in

Roman marble altar fragment with cupid Provenance: Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva

Head of apostle or Christ in carved limestone. Elongated face with a large forehead and long hair with thick wavy locks on the sides. The almond-shaped eyes are underlined by the hem...

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CAPITAL WITH MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES, 15th Century marble H 18 x Diam 33.5 cm H 7 x Diam 13 1/4 in

Large Virgin and Child in carved wood, carved back. Sitting on a throne bench, Mary carries Christ seated on her left knee. The Virgin has a face with stylized features with semicircular eyebrow arches, almond-shaped eyes with protruding eyeballs. Marie is wearing a belted dress with a simple neckline and a coat with a flap that goes back to the front. Tiny traces of polychromy. Romanesque influences are still present. With her protruding eyes, she can also be compared to the statuary of Lake Constance. Our Virgin, rare for its size, nevertheless presents strong analogies with the Italian Sedes Sapientiae...

Rare and fascinating carved wooden female bust, probably used as a wig holder. The work, made in Holland in the first half of the 17th century, features an elegant stylization of fac...

Upper Italy 2nd half 12th century Maple Original version Height 67 cm

Thai Bronze Head of Buddha (Original) 17th c.

Rare, Late Roman Empire (3rd to 5th centuries, C.E.), solid marble bust of a young man. Beautiful patina. Mounted on a later, Carrara marble base.

Extraordinary collection of 12 gilded copper plaques with glass paste eyes, originating in Limoges, France, and dating from the early 13th century. These fine plaques, each about six...

4x3 Ceramic Ancient clay perfume jug from the Iron Age discovered in Jerusalem.

PAIR OF ROMANESQUE MARBLE COLUMNS Italy, 13th/14th Century marble 86 x 16 x 13 cm 33 3/4 x 6 1/4 x 5 in

Splendid polychrome wooden sculpture depicting the Blessing Child Jesus, made by a Central Italian master in the 14th century. The work, 66 cm high, is distinguished by its harmoniou...

GROTESQUE MASK Italy, 15h Century stone 30 x 31 x 20 cm 11 3/4 x 12 1/4 x 7 3/4 in

A set of figurative sculptures, ceramic in greens and browns by an unknown Chinese artist. The piece is from the Ming Dynasty and is unsigned.

Large catalan Virgin of the Annunciation in polychrome wood. Our Virgin is represented in the phase of the Conturbatio, Mary expresses her amazement a...

After Jean Goujon (French, 1510-1568) Bust of Diane de Poitiers, 18th/19th Century Bronze 14 x 7 x 5 inches 22 x 8 x 7 inches, with base Diane de Poitiers was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and family's status. She was a major patron of French Renaissance architecture...

Grande Vierge à l'Enfant en chêne de la fin du 13ème siècle ou début du 14ème siècle. La plastique des visages et du Christ évoque le 13ème siècle (le visage de la Vierge évoque le visage de la Sedes Sapientiae...

A classic terra cotta sculpture of Mercury signed Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714-1785).

MASTER ANGEL Museum sculpture of the master of Mauer Austrian Danube Region Around 1500/20 Lime wood, carved full round Height 55 cm Provenance: Hofstätter Collection, Vienna The masterful sculpture was made in the workshop of the master of the altar of Mauer around 1500 in Lower Austria. It can be located in the context of the Danube school of the first third of the 16th century, was carved from limewood and is 55 cm tall. Since there are no attributes or context, it is an unknown figure of a carved altar. The master of the altar of Mauer is an anonymous Gothic carver who was active between 1500 and 1525 and received this so-called emergency name through the altar for the parish and pilgrimage church of Mauer near Melk. This winged altar was probably commissioned by Göttweig Abbey in the 1470s and is made of lime wood. It shows an expression in the transition from late Gothic to early Renaissance and is considered the most important carved altar in Lower Austria, created between 1510-15. The figure presented here is very related in its design to the figures of the altar of Mauer. In lively-moving form, the male figure turns his upper body to the right, with his head pointing upward, probably toward the sky. The right leg in lunge emerges from under the frock...

LATE GOTIC RELIEF “Adoration of the Magi Lower Rhine Around 1500 Oak wood, plastically carved Original, polychrome version Height 51 cm, widt...

This young saint or angel has suffered over the centuries, but his spirit has not been broken - and miraculously, his beautiful face has remained intact. With a gentle face and an al...

A pair of carved oak angels, circa 1700, with a lovely warm patina and faint traces of polychrome to the face and gilding to the body. The angels are both kn...

Fascinating limestone gargouille (or gargoyle) from the region of Avignon, France, dating from the 14th century. A rare and striking hand-carved piece that perfectly embodies the med...

"The Rape of Sabina," large bronze group with brown patina, Roman workshop of the second half of the 18th century, circle of Francesco Righetti (Rome 1749-1819). The exceptional qu...

This Chinesco bowl was from a pre-Columbian society from around 300 BCE. It features abstract, geometric designs in red and black. The diameter is 8".

Large terracotta group depicting interior scene, northern France, second half of the 17th century. The fine execution of this delightful family interior takes us back to the product...