Judith with the Head of Holofernes, Plaquette After Riccio, Italian 17th Century

Standing with his legs crossed, his right foot resting on a naga hood, a gada supporting his right knee, two Nandi bulls on the square base, the god's two l...

This beautifully patinated bronze figure of Yoga Narasimha, the fourth incarnation of Vishnu as a man-lion is from Kashmir in North India. Nara means man and simha means lion. He is ...

The lion-headed deity seated on round base over a stepped platform. Lakshmi seated on his left thigh, his principal hands holding a mace and lotus bud and upper hands holding a chakr...

These highly articulated gilt bronze andirons are based on a 16th century design for candlesticks by the great Italian renaissance sculptor Andrea Briosco known as Riccio (1470-1532). Riccio's great masterpiece is the Paschal candelabrum in the cathedral of Padua which contained mythological creatures, satyrs and grotesques. Despite the shocking motifs, the church of Sant Antonio...

A Thai bronze head of Buddha, Ayutthaya period, late 16th-early 17th century. The serene face flanked by long ear lobes slightly flared at the tips, the eyes downcast beneath smooth...

Cerberus Black painted stone Italy, 17th century Measures: 80 x 69 x 36cm (one head missing) Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange, Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog Over the multitude immers'd beneath. His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard, His belly large, and claw'd the hands, with which He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs Piecemeal disparts (Dante, Inferno, Canto VI). Cerberus figure seated, in his role of ferocious guardian of the underworld; he shows a nervous musculature, an adherent skin which reveals the ribs, long and robust limbs; his heads are broad and the eyes set well apart. Painted in black to amplify his menacing look, the infernal guardian is depicted with his famous attributes, writhing his heads, growling and barking furiously. Cerberus, in Greek mythology, was the monstrous watchdog of the underworld – also known as the “hound of Hades” – preventing the dead from leaving, and making sure that those who entered never left. A child of Typhon and Echidna, he was part of a monstrous family, which included Orthus, the Lernaean Hydra, and the Chimaera as well. Only on three occasions Cerberus was tricked by visitors of Hades: Heracles did it with his strength, Orpheus with his music. In "The Inferno", Dante places Cerberus as the guardian of the third circle of Hell. With his three mouths, Dante saw Cerberus as a beast that was synonymous with the sin of Gluttony. Virgil gets past the monster by throwing mud in his three mouths, temporarily choking him. Very rare are the representations of Cerberus in ancient statuary...

A fine 17th-century bronze head of Emperor Trajan, crafted in a historicist style. The head features bronze construction with ivory inlaid eyes. During the 17th century, it was commo...

Italian sculptor of the 17th century, pair of candlesticks ...