18th Century and Earlier Sculptures

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...

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...

Large romanesque capital with water leaf in red Verona marble. This type of capital is typical of 12th century Cistercian abbeys and represents a tr...

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

Sensitively carved, solid marble bust of a young boy mounted on a custom, Lucite base. Carved fully in the round, though originally the figure was pa...

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

This muscular male torso probably comes from a larger relief, which would have decorated the front part of a sarcophagus. It likely represents the figure of a satyr, standing, with t...

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...

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

Large romanesque statue of Saint Lucy of Syracuse is dated from the 12th century. The saint is represented veiled and diademed, she wears a long dress, with an important tie. Stone s...

The legendary Greek god Perseus is the subject of this elegant half-bust by Ubaldo Gandolfi, a major painter and sculptor from Bologna. The son of Zeus and Danaë, Perseus was the le...

Sedes Sapientiae Pustertal um 1220/30 Weichholz/Lindenholz(?)geschnitzt Reste von originaler Polychromie Höhe 57 cm

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MARBLE RELIEF WITH GRIFFIN Central Italy, 16th Century marble 42 x 28.5 x 5.5 cm 16 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 2 1/4 in

Buddhist Monk Antique Asian Wood Carving Early 18Th Century or older possibly Japanese, Buddhist Monk resting on a lotus blossom on wood base, weathe...

Exquisite Pair of Neoclassical bronze Bacchus and Bacchante figures cast in a dark patinated bronze. The pair rest on on white marble bases set with relief cast gilt plaques. 18th C...

ARCHITECTURAL RELIEFS WITH CHIMERAS Central Italy, 16th Century green marble 26 x 25 cm 10 1/4 x 9 3/4 in

16th Century Venetian bronze sculpture of a Young Man in Armour attributed to the Florentine artist Andrea di Alessandri, called Il Bresciano (Fl...

This Pre-Columbian bowl featuers red marks on a light orange ground. It is 9" in diameter and has been previously repaired.

Bust of a Lady, thought to be Elisabeth Petrowna, also known as Elisabeth of Russia Depicted before she was crowned Terracotta Bust Elizabeth Petrovna (Russian: Елизаве́та (29 Decem...

Fine 16th-century polychrome wax sculpture depicting Penitent Saint Jerome, one of the most evocative subjects in the Christian tradition. The work, created with extraordinary skill,...

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...

Wonderfully carved, circa 1750, marble bust representing North and South America. Initially part of a series of busts that depicted "The Four Continents". The smiling figure is draped in a toga pinned...

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...

A Sancai, tri color glazed pottery figure of a Tang Dynasty official. Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

TERRACOTTA FIGURINE OF A COMIC ACTOR , Greece, c. 350 B.C. Labeled to the reverse, 'LAWRENCE COLL./LOT 426. SOTHEBY./APR. 1892. P. 816.'; Terracotta height 15.2 cm height 6 in Prove...

Pilgrim or saint Jacques figure in sculpted and polychromed limestone. He holds a calabash in his left hand. He probably held the pilgrim's staff in his missing right hand. Very beau...

An evocative, 14th century, carved wood statue of a seated Mary with the Christ child in her lap. The piece with a beautiful patina featuring polychrome paint traces. Now mounted on ...

Mercury, circa 1700s. Bronze with green patina. Height with base: 58 cm (22 7/8 in.)

A schist stone carving from 2nd/3rd Century Gandhara depicting scenes from the life of Buddha. Provenance: Spink and Sons LTD, 1985.

Relief with saint Georges France, 15th Century limestone 26 x 20 cm (10 1/4 x 7 3/4 in) without base

Large Saint Sebastian finely carved in alabaster. The saint is attached to a column surmounted by a capital, beautiful soft features and superb hair wi...

"The Baptism of Christ," richly carved wooden bas-relief, Italy, 17th century. Carved into the frame, richly carved with branches of leaves and fruit, are the figures of Christ and ...

High relief panel depicting 'Saint Barbara' Southern France, 16th-17th century Polychrome carved wood with traces of gilding 64 x 32 cm. (good condition, with minor missing and cra...

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

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...

Glorious, c. 1650, hand-carved, solid Carrara marble upper torso fragment of a Roman soldier. The piece featuring fish-scale armor atop a tunic. The rig...

This beautiful cast bronze elephant head is a protome, which in ancient art was a decorative element consisting of a head - sometimes with part of the bust - of a human, animal, or f...

Provenance: Private Collection, Spain. Known as Peruvian alabaster for its translucency and workability, Piedra de Huamanga is a highly prized material from the province of Ayacucho in Peru. In the 17th and 18th centuries, local craftsman in the town of Huamanga began to specialize in the production of small-scale, polychrome religious sculptures made from this distinctive stone. Huamanga sculptures are among the most accomplished examples of carving from the Spanish Americas, where polychrome wood sculpture was a far more common sculptural medium. These works, which were created as independent sculptures or as sculptural groups—such as our three Magi—were intended for ecclesiastical as well as domestics settings. Our three figures likely formed part of a larger Nativity group—a New World variant of the tradition of the Neapolitan Crèche...

ROMAN RED JASPER APPLIQUE OF TRAGIC ACTOR Rome, 1st Century A.D. 5.5 x 4.2 cm the mask 2 1/4 x 1 3/4 in Provenance Penicuik House, Midlothian, acquired by either Sir John Clerk, 2nd...

A pair of rare, early 1700’s, Roman, beautifully hand–carved, solid Carrara marble cherubim singing in adoration. Each with feather embellished robe fragments. Both mounted on custo...

ITALIAN MARBLE BUST OF MELPOMEN, MUSE OF TRAGEDY Late 18th Century inscribed to base Melpomen marble height 66 cm height 26 in

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

Pair of sculptures depicting two winged angels in carved wood Tuscany, late 17th century Carved, gilded and polychrome wood Dimensions: Height 64 cm - ...

This is a hand-carved wood polychromed sculpture of the Infant Jesus. A baroque figure probably from the 18th century, this religious figure was obtained in Mexico. It appears to hav...

Hand-carved, oak statue of a putto holding a flowing tapestry and a shield mounted on a custom, Lucite base.

PROVENANCE Louis de Clercq (1836-1901), Paris Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva; thence by descent to the present owner LITERATURE A. de Rid...

A fine and rare early barbers pole in original polychrome paint finish. Turned in one piece. A decorative and original piece of folk art. The white was for bandages, red for blood an...

Bronze figure of a young Eros, caught in the pose of riding a dolphin. Attractive green patina, some fingers and right foot are broken. Separately worked left wing is missing. Right ...

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

In celebration of the Year of the Rabbit, Hunt Slonem’s iconic muse is revisited in timeless powder-coated aluminum. Each edition is signed, numbered, and comes with a certificate of...

Carved and painted wooden sculpture - Madonna praying - Italy, 17th-18th century. 35 x 20 x h 65 cm. Entirely in carved, lacquered and painted wood. Some missing parts and color lo...

PROVENANCE Herbert A. Cahn (1915-2002), Kunst der Antike, Basel, 1988 Private Collection, Paris

After Philippe-Laurent Roland (French, 1746-1816) Bust of a Young Man, 1772 Terra cotta set on painted wood pedestal Signed and dated at back 16.5 x 11 x 8 inches Philippe-Laurent R...

PROVENANCE Private J.E. Collection, Bavaria, 1960s

ANTIQUE ITALIAN PORPRHYRY MORTAR Rome, 16th/17th Century Porphyry 19 x 23 x 23 cm 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 x 9 1/4 in Provenance: Sotheby Parke Bernet Florence, 21 October 1976, page 36, lot 5...

Large mirror made by a Florentine woodcarver working in the early 18th century (it can be hung on the wall in either direction) Tuscany (Florence) Louis XIV style Carved and g...

Volpato or Cialli manufacture, molded by Lorenzo Weber, Pio VI blessing on horseback during the Cavalcata for the Possession English white terracotta of 45 x 29 x 17 cm, datable to...

"Sheath In Sea Green And Red Marble From Caunes-minervois Nineteenth" Marble green sea for the central part and surrounded by a red of Caunes-Minervois XIXè. Provenance:GalerieParisi...