18th Century Sculptures

Melanie Sherman Vintage Peacock III (Wall Piece/Dish (handpainted) Porcelain, Glaze, Overglaze, Chinapaints, 24k German Gold Luster, Brass Wire (for hanging, can be removed) Year: 2022 Size: 5.5x4x0.25in Signed by hand COA provided Ref.: 924802-1333 ------------------------ My ceramics are handmade and painted with the finest overglazes from Europe. The gold luster used is 24k liquid Gold from Germany. Every piece is unique. My imagery is inspired by vintage Meissen dinnerware...

Clock holder table sculpture in carved and gilded wood. Venice, c.1770 19 x 7.5 x h 25cm. Entirely in finely carved and gilded wood, depicting a Roman maid with a basket of flowers...

STATUE REPRESENTANT UN MAURE Trois dauphins supportant un matelot des iles portant une corne d'abondance et petits animaux marins dont crabe et coquillage. Sculpture en bois polychro...

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...

An interesting Vase or Pot Pourri in Soft Paste Porcelain, attributed to the Manufacture Saint Cloud. The vase is enameled white soft-paste porcelain over decorated with celestial...

Certified by Rosario Coppel in Spain. The Resurrection of Christ Polychrome wood 43 cm high (38 cm from head to feet) Base: 10 x 10 cm "The diagonal composition, the posture, the s...

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 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...

FRAGMENT OF 'BIGIO MORATO' MARBLE 19th Century Bigio morato height 60 cm with stand height 23 1/2 in

BRECCIA FRAGMENT PLINTH Italy, 18th Century Breccia medicea 55 x d 25 cm 21 3/4 x d 9 3/4 in

Neoclassical sculpture in white marble - Centauro Vecchio - Italy, 18th-19th century. 46 x 18 x h 71cm. Entirely in white marble. - The work takes up the Roman original from Villa Adriana...

Boxwood figure of Christ

Pair of large Louis XIV mirrors Italy (Rome), early 18th century Carved and gilded wood, with original mercury silvered glass mirror Height cm. ...

Carved wooden table sculpture - Figure of Saint. Veneto, 18th century. 10 x 6 x h 29 cm. Entirely in carved wood. Condition report: Good state of conservation of the sculptural wo...

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

Carved wooden sculpture - San Martino - Italy, early 19th century. 22 x 13 x h 40cm. Entirely in finely carved pear wood. Condition report: In good condition, with signs of ancien...

Table sculpture (Italy, 18th century) - Pietà. 13 x 7 x h 22.5 cm. Entirely in carved and polychrome painted wood. Condition report: Good state of conservation of the sculptural w...

Four small table sculptures - Group of commoners - Venice, late 18th century. 9 x 7 x h 20 cm each. Entirely in carved and painted wood. Condition report: Good state of conservati...

After François Girardon 1628-1715 | French Pluto Abducting Proserpine Bronze This High Baroque period composition captures the famed narrative of Pluto and Proserpine from Roman mythology. The late 17th-century patinated bronze, created after François Girardon's marble composition, captures the very moment that Pluto seizes Proserpine. The anguished goddess reaches skyward, attempting to escape the god’s grasp while Pluto’s stoic face betrays his knowledge that his ploy will succeed. This pivotal moment in the mythological tale has captured the imagination of many art historical greats, from Bernini to Rubens. François Girardon’s version of the climax demonstrates incredible finesse and artistry, modeled expertly in bronze in the present work by a later sculptor. The statue brings a twist of intertwined bodies into a dynamic frenzy, paralleling the tension of the legendary story. In ancient Roman mythology, Proserpine, the beautiful daughter of Ceres — known as Persephone in Greek mythology — was picking flowers in the fields when she was suddenly abducted by Pluto, the god of the underworld, and taken to his kingdom. Consumed with grief, her mother Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, scorches the earth, stopping the growth of grain and fruit. Jupiter attempts to intervene and secure Proserpine’s return to earth, negotiating a compromise with Pluto and the Fates that allows Proserpine to be released for part of the year before returning to Pluto’s underworld. Proserpine’s journey back and forth is an allegory for the changing seasons; when Prosperine is with her mother, the earth warms and provides bountiful harvests. Upon her annual return to the underworld, however, the earth once again becomes cold and barren. After returning to France after years of training in Rome, François Girardon quickly rose to become one of the greatest artists in France. He was elected a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1657 and would become Chancellor of the Royal Academy in 1695. The artist was approached frequently for royal commissions and Girardon’s Pluto was originally commissioned by Louis XIV for the gardens at his Palace of Versailles. It was one of four monumental marble groups intended to decorate the corners of Charles Le Brun’s never completed garden at the chateau, the Parterre d’Eau. Each group of three figures symbolized one of the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Pluto’s association with hell made him the apt...

"Pair Of Neapolitan Santons, Late 18th-early 19th Century" Santons with head and limbs in terracotta, and body in tow. Good original condition. Repairs and minor accidents. High. 49 ...

18th century grand tour collection of Francesco Piranesi engravings of Roman classical sculpture. Raccolta di Statue Antiche. Rome, Italy. Dates range from 1780-1792. 39 Copperplate...

BUST In Marble Probably From Carrara Representing King Henry IV Late 18th Century" Marble BUST probably from Carrara representing King Henry IV with a laurel wreath. late 18th centur...

"Pair Of Louis XV Period Andirons" Pair of andirons from the Louis XV period, representing Zeus and Mars Original gilding. H.30 W.31

"Carved Wood Louis XVI Period" Rare carved wood representing the attributes of science and architecture. Nice size, its green and gray lacquers are original. Louis XVI period. Dimens...

This beautiful polychrome and highly expressive statue 18th C statue represents Mary Magdalene in prayer, hands joined, eyes raised to the sky.It's of German origin

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...

Indian relief panel from the 18th century in mottled red sandstone and in Mughal style from Rajastan. It is carved with an elaborate and stylized tree-of...

Large original engraving by Francesco Piranesi (Italian, 1756-1810). "Castore e Polluce" from "Raccolta di Statue Antiche." Rome, 1780-1792. Copper engraving on laid paper. Unframed. Francesco Piranesi was an Italian engraver, etcher and architect. He was the son of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and continued his series of engravings...

Large original engraving by Francesco Piranesi (Italian, 1756-1810). "Laocoonte" from "Raccolta di Statue Antiche." Rome, 1780-1792. Copper engraving on laid paper. Unframed. Frances...

This terracotta statue represents the Virgin with the Child, captured in a very lively way, while they are turning and moving around, embraced by the fold of the flatter drapery.

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...

"Lingbi - One Hole Scholar's Rock"' is a sculpture, stone on wood base from the Late Qing Dynasty, China.

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 original engraving by Francesco Piranesi (Italian, 1756-1810) from "Raccolta di Statue Antiche." Rome, 1780-1792. "Gruppo antico di Figure d. volgarme. il Toro Farnese". Copper...

The gospel of St. Luke tells how Mary and Joseph took Jesus with them on their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After seven days of celebration, Jesus’ parents returned home, but were...

This Madonna has a more profane look with her hair tied back. Such features appear to be a characteristic of many 18th-century sculpted Madonnas. She carries Jesus like ordinary mothers would hold their babies in their arms. The polychrome paint and gilding of the terracotta statue are relatively well preserved. The figures are placed in a wooden shrine...

A carved statuary white marble bust of a young man, south of Italy probably early 18th Century, with head turned and looking on the left , sculpted with a neat hairstyle and with the...

Melanie Sherman "Tu Me Connais" - Yunomi Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k German Gold Luster, Vintage Decals Cone 6, oxidation + multiple cone 018 firings, handpainted Si...

A carved statuary white marble bust of a young man, south of Italy probably early 18th Century, with head turned and looking on the left and wearing a typical headdress of the period...

Signed and dated: ‘F. Harwood Fecit 1764’ Collections: Probably commissioned by Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon (1743-1827); Probably by descent at Gordon Castle, Banffshire to c.1948; Possibly acquired by Bert Crowther of Syon Lodge, Middlesex; Jacques Hollander (1940-2004); Christie’s, 5 December 2013, lot 101; Private collection; Sotheby’s, 2 July 2019, lot 106 Literature: John Preston Neale, Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, in England, Wales and Scotland, London, 1822, vol.I, unpaginated. This marble copy of an ancient bust in the Musei Capitolini usually identified as Faustina the Younger, the daughter of Antoninus Pius and future wife of Marcus Aurelius, was made in Florence by Francis Harwood in 1764. Harwood was one of the most prolific suppliers of decorative marbles for the Grand Tour market and this finely worked example demonstrates the quality of luxury goods available to travellers to Italy. So often anonymous, this unusually signed and dated example, raises questions about the status of marble copies in the period and of sculptors such as Harwood who are known principally for ornamental work. Harwood’s origins remain obscure. He is documented living in Palazzo Zuccari with Joshua Reynolds and the Irish sculptor Simon Vierpyl at Easter 1752, he had certainly settled permanently in Florence by the following year, when he is recorded working with Joseph Wilton. He was admitted to the Florentine Academy on 12 January 1755 (as pittore Inglese, although he was described as scultore in the matriculation account). After Wilson returned to England in 1755 Harwood appears to have worked in a studio near SS. Annunziata with Giovanni Battista Piamontini who had made life-size copies of The Wrestlers and The Listening Slave for Joseph Leeson in 1754. In 1758 both sculptors were contracted to make a statue and a trophy to complete the decoration of the Porta San Gallo, Harwood completing a statue of Equality, installed the following year. By 1760 Harwood was on the brink of his most productive period as a sculptor, producing copies of celebrated antiquities for the ever-increasing audience of Grand Tour travellers and for the domestic market in London. In 1761 Harwood met the young architect James Adam who was in Italy specifically to make contact with suppliers for Robert Adam’s burgeoning practice back in Britain. The Adams offered a remarkably cohesive design package to their clients, encompassing not just architecture, but fixtures, fittings and furniture as well. Harwood was able to supply the brothers with marbles for their new interiors. At Syon, for example, Harwood produced a full-size copy of Michelangelo’s Bacchus for the new dining room the Adams had designed for Hugh Smythson, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Harwood seems to have also specialised in producing sets of library busts. In 1758 Charles Compton, 7th Earl of Northampton, a distinguished traveller commissioned a set of busts which remain in situ at Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Adam brothers were producing designs for new interiors at Castle Ashby at this date. The set included representations of: Cicero, Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina the Younger, Sappho, Seneca and Homer. Each of these busts Harwood seems to have replicated for multiple patrons, another Adam patron, Thomas Dundas...

A carved statuary white marble bust of a noble woman, south of Italy probably early 18th Century, with head turned and looking on the left , sculpted with a neat hairstyle and hair t...

Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k German Gold Luster, Vintage Stoke-On-Trent Decals, Textured Decals, Platinum Decals Cone 6, oxidati...

Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k German Gold Luster, Vintage Stoke-On-Trent Decals Cone 6, oxidation + multiple cone 018 firings, ha...

Louis XV richly carved mirror Northern Italy (Veneto), around 1740 Carved and gilded wood Dimensions: 80 x 54 cm. It is a refined Louis XV mirror, made around 1740, characterized by...

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...

The beautifully polychromed church sculpture represents the famous Saint Anthony (Lisbon, 1195 – Padua, 1231) with little Jesus on his arm. You can immediately recognize a Franciscan monk by his brown habit, brown hooded cloak...

These four plaques represent either domestic (a horse, two rams) or exotic animals (a rhinoceros and an elephant). Made on slate slabs cut to shape (a rectangle with concave angles),...

Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k German Gold Luster, Vintage Stoke-On-Trent Decals, Textured Decals Cone 6, oxidation + multiple con...

This high relief shows strong similarities to Etienne Le Hongre’s reception piece at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, which is now kept in the Notre-Dame Church in Versai...

Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k German Gold Luster, Vintage Stoke-On-Trent Decals Cone 6, oxidation + multiple cone 018 firings, ha...

Melanie Sherman "Just A Little Tipsy" Year: 2021 Porcelain, Glaze, ChinaPaint, 24k German Gold Luster, Gold Powder, Vintage Stoke-On-Trent Decals, Textured Decals Cone 6, oxidation +...

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...

This pair of plaques depicting a man and woman from the 18th century are hand painted. Each piece has cracking and paint loss and is in good antique ...

Pair of large octagonal mirrors Italy (Florence), 18th century Carved wood, perforated. Gold leaf gilding with bolus preparation. Height cm. 114, Width cm. 102 (light 80 x 70 cm.) ...

Quartz crystal is a power stone that's prized as a healing stone - one of the most powerful of the mineral kingdom. Stone of innocence and discovery, pink quartz nurtures self-love and respect of others. This beautiful pink quartz crystal...

Although the 18th century, the period of the Enlightenment in France, spawned thinkers who criticized the privileges of the clergy and the truthfulness of certain dogmas, the Roman Catholic faith was very much present in everyday life. Since king Louis XIV had issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, Protestantism was banned from the country. This Madonna with child illustrates the daily practice of faith. Like many 18th-century Madonna statues...

The Meissen manufactory near the city of Dresden was founded by Augustus II (1670-1733), King of Poland and Electoral of Saxony, in 1710. It was the first factory in Europe to succee...

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