Set of Bronze Handles Manufactured in Italy, 17th Century

Faun-Demon. Female figure with goat legs. Animal skin on her shoulders. Demonic face. She is holding a turtle.

Baroque sculpture in walnut, central Italy 17th century. The male figure, created to be seen in an elevated position with respect to the observer and originally part of a larger scul...

Bronze sculpture depicting faun with cymbals on red marble base.

Credenza seicentesca con fronte a due ante sormontate sul piano da alzata decorativa; Tutto il mobile è realizzato in legno di gattice rivestito di noce, tripartito da larghe lesene,...

White glazed ceramic depicting Erminia among shepherds. Erminia is shown from the side, standing with her robe in the wind, helmet under her arm, and shield at her feet; she is stret...

Marble bust depicting the god Apollo of Belvedere with face placed three-quarter view.

Set of four 17th century Venetian bronze door handles, set on ebonized wooden stands. Each handle is a original of a bronze bust of an ancient Italian man affixed to a square wooden ...

A Thai bronze head of Buddha, Sukothai period, late 16th-early 17th century. His face with serene expression, arched eyebrows above incised eyes and l...

A Thai bronze head of the Buddha. Sukothai period, late 16th-early 17th century. His face with serene expression, arched eyebrows above incised eyes a...

An absolutely stunning set of two 17th century architectural fragments from Venice, Italy. Beautifully carved in giltwood with a pomegranate motif, a symbol of resurrection and the h...

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...

Originally gilded. as notice some traces of gilt residue. From the collection of Verna Harrah. Harra's Casinos.