A. Messina Figurative Sculptures

A 19th century Italian grand tour bronze figure of Bacchus with a goat over his shoulders Circa 1890

We are delighted to offer for auction this stunning antique circa 1860 Grand Tour bronze statue of Place Vendome Column with Napoleon on top in so...

Vintage Grand Tour Bronze Bust of Emperor Caesar Augustus on Sienna Marble, circa early 1900s. A piece of imperial history with this classic Grand Tour bronze bust of Augustus Caesar...

Italian Grand Tour model of the ancient Temple of Vespasian located in the Roman Forum, Rome. Carved from alabaster, this is a handsome example of a souvenir carving which would have been collected by a European or American sophisticate making a Grand Tour of the ancient sites of Italy. This wonderful architectural miniature is evocative of another time and place. Roma Templo Di Vespasiano' etched into the black marble base. It has been drilled to be wired, not the first time I have owned one of these that had been mounted as a lamp. The Temple of Vespasian and Titus is located in Rome at the western end of the Roman Forum between the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of Saturn...

American cast bronze garden fountain with standing figural boy holding Koi fish on a two-tiered shell form scrolled base with turtle at his feet, Late 19th century.

A wonderful third quarter 19th century Italian 'grand tour' ancient marbles specimen plaque in original silver-gilt frame.

Pair of Italian bronze figural cachepots with decorative grapevines, fruit trees, floral swags and gadrooning motif, Early 19th Century. Cachepot...

Italian Grand Tour bronze figure of an athlete, Italy, 19th century. Measures: H 11.5 in.

This miniature cast bronze architectural model of the Trajan Column dates to the 19th century to commemorate one of the Grand Tours of Europ...

19th Century French Terracotta Figural Group of Cherub With Dove. Winged cherub is in sitting position with delicate features and a serene expression. Cherubs arms are outstretched t...

Heavy and extremely patinated 51" tall 36" long seated dragons, or foo dogs with colored mica decorative accents on the scaled manes, tails, bodies and white stone The real flair tha...

Grand tour bronze after the antique. The Neopolitan Fisherman excavated at Pompeii in 1823. This is a casting by noted foundry Sabatino De Angelis in Naples. Cast from the antique i...

Beautiful pair of 1970's Italian gold guild ceramic doves, figurines great condition no chips or crack nice patina and finish.

The vintage porcelain or ceramic dove figurines feature finely detailed bodies, artfully hand painted with light green accents on bright white majolica glaze, creating a reserved, natural color palette of white and tone-on-tone green. The birds are realistically sculpted with wide, flowing tails, standing calmly with their heads slightly turned. They are not mirror images of each other; each presents subtle differences in posture, adding visual interest and another layer of complexity to the set. Highly detailed figurines convey a touch of historical elegance and whimsical charm of traditional Italian country style. Each sculpture is marked with ITALY and model numbers on the inner surfaces. While many Italian artists and studios created their version of dove figurine, most of them are stylistically different from this pair; Bitossi and Zaccagnini birds have more streamlined, Modernist silhouettes, and the doves created for Raymor were less detailed and intentionally less realistic, as well as most often marked with distributor name in writing. We're attributing the pair to Mottahedeh, who sourced Italian majolica in similar style; the pieces will be simply marked ITALY and Mottahedeh will add their paper stickers. As the sculptures are quite old, the stickers often get lost or destroyed. The convenient size and small footprint allows the set to be used in a multiple ways, such as dining room centerpiece, console table accent, shelf or fireplace mantel decoration...

The figure is highly detailed on a pedestal with carved details throughout including three figural carvings on the tripod form base.