Antique Renaissance Revival Gilt Bronze Travel Desk

Our unusual and lovely bronze table lamp by Edward F. Caldwell in the Renaissance style dates from circa 1910. It has a segmented cast bronze baluster stem decorated with raised strapwork that has been gilded and enameled to depict figures in Renaissance costumes...

Our gold damascened Renaissance Revival jewelry chest by Antonio Cortelazzo (1819-1903) was commissioned by the English lawyer and antiquarian, Sir William Drake (1817-1890) and exhibited by the artist at the 1872 International Exhibition in London. It features a pair of dragons supporting the arms of Drake plus repoussé trophies and gold-ground scrollwork, raised on scroll and mask feet.  The lid is signed CORTELAZZO VICENZA FECIT 1870. With original descriptions written in ink on paper. The first reads "Steel Casket damascened gold and ornamented with 4 plaques of repousse work by Cortelazzo of Vincenza. Coll: Sir W R Drake S.L.A." where the initials refer to the Society of Antiquaries of London. The second similarly reads "Casket of Steel damascened with gold and ornamented with four plaques of silver repousse work. By Cortelazzo of Vincenza. Lent by Sir William Drake." Exhibition: International Exhibition of 1872, London. Provenance: The Collection of Sir William Drake, F.S.A., Christie's, London, June 30, 1891, lot 602, 33 GBP. The Collection of M.F. Adie Esq., purchased circa 1950 from H.W. Keil Ltd, Broadway, Worcestershire, England. Literature: The Official Catalogue, Fine Arts Department London, International Exhibition of 1872, London, J.M. Johnson & Sons, Victoria and Albert Museum. (See images here in our listing.) The Art Journal, London, 1872, p 2. Nineteenth Century Silver, J. Culme, London, 1977, p 17. The Layards, Cortelazzo and Castellani: New Information from the Diaries of Lady Layard, Jewellery Studies I, J. Rudoe, 1983, p 86. A Renaissance-Revival Masterpiece by Antonio Cortelazzo, B. Shifman, Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, vol 8, p 103. In 1872 The Art Journal Catalogue wrote "Among the art gems of the present exhibition are to be found the productions from the hand of Antonio Cortelazzo of Vicenza, now as well known in England for his skill as a metalworker as he is appreciated among his fellow workers in his native italy by whom he is recognized as Facile Princeps in the art. In the mechanical skill with which he inlays metal upon metal he has his rivals; but in the combination of that process with purity of design and artistic fancy of ornament which distinguishes all his works, he stands unrivalled. The 'Coffre' is in intarsia of gold and silver (partly flat and in other parts relief) on steel. It is one of numerous specimens of Cortelazzo's work which are to be found in the collection of Sir William Drake, one of the principal English patrons of the artist whose genius is now fully appreciated. Drake was a wealthy lawyer and collector of contemporary as well as renaissance and baroque works of art. A client of the connoisseur and dealer William Blundell Spence, Sir William acquired works by leading artists of the period including the Florentine sculptor and wood carver, Luigi Frullini (1839-1897), English art potters, the Martin brothers, and the celebrated goldsmith and damascener, Placido Zuloaga...

Our very large gilt bronze figure by Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904) depicts Venus holding and leaning upon a Dionysian staff with pine cone finial as Cupid clambers up the staff. Based marked JL GEROME.

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