French 19th Century Bronze Amphora Depicting the Ancient Greek God Poseidon

A Greek Black Figure Style Grand Tour Amphora, 19th Century Provenance: Private Australian Collection. Description: Amphora, specifically, were used for storing and transporting li...

A Greek Black Figure Style Grand Tour Amphora, 19th Century Provenance: Private Australian Collection. Description: Amphora, specifically, were used for storing and transporting li...

A Greek Black Figure Style Grand Tour Amphora, 19th Century Provenance: Private Australian Collection. Description: Amphora, specifically, were used for storing and transporting li...

The vintage bronze sculpture features a standing Greek god, preparing to throw a javelin. The pose is heavily inspired by the antique bronze statue of Zeus (or possibly Poseidon), da...

This is a truly magnificent antique Victorian patinated bronze sculpture of the famous Greek God Apollo, modelled upon a shaped circular socle, inscribed monogram 'NF' and numbered 2...

A French silvered-bronze athénienne by Ferdinand Barbedienne, Paris, last quarter 19th century with a revolving liner, the frieze applied with bucrania suspending ribbon-tied berried laurel swags above a border of bellflowers on a stippled ground above three seated female sphinxes issuing stylised foliage and scrolls on lion monopodia cast with the mask of Hercules, scrolling foliage and anthemions joined by stretchers, raised on a concave-sided triform marble base on a further thin silvered-bronze base, inscribed to the tripod base 'F. BARBEDIENNE' Measures: 103.3cm. high, 41.5cm. diameter; 3ft. 4 3/8 in, 1ft. 4 1/4. This impressive athénienne is a key reminder of the longevity of a particular model and design’s success from Antiquity through to the 19th century and up until this day. Typically known as the ‘Trépied du Temple d’Isis’, this athénienne is designed after the Roman antique originally found at Pompeii and now at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (fig.1). From being for example an inspiration for the baptismal font of Napoléon’s son in 1811, this model was the inspiration to many highly skilled makers throughout the 19thcentury such as the Manfredini brothers from Milan and of course the Parisian well-established bronze founder Ferdinand Barbedienne who executed the present example. The Temple of Isis was a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and was among one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764. Certainly considered as one of the most elegant examples of antique tripods, the existence of this model was then popularized to the rest of Europe via prints, one of the first being by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in 1779. This type of tripod was also popularised by an engraving in C. Percier and P. Fontaine’s, Receuil de Décorations Intérieures of 1801. Interestingly, there is also a watercolour now in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris, showing this type of tripod displayed at the 1801 Exposition des Produits de L’Industrie in the Louvre. The passion for Greek and Roman Art in the 19th century. The discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum around the middle of the 18th century gave rise to a new passion for Antiquity and the excavated masterpieces renewed the repertoire of fine and decorative arts and served as models for Neoclassicism. Members of the aristocracy as well as connoisseurs, particularly in England, completed their education by undertaking a ‘Grand Tour’ of Italy and often fell victim to the recently unearthed Greek and Roman artefacts...

19th Century French Antique Carved Wood Sculpture of the God Pan or Satyr. Unusual and characterful late 19th Century carved Walnut figure of Pan on gnarled Burr wood base titled “P...

This superb Grand Tour bronze study portrays a bust of Diana of Versailles or Diana the Huntress, considered in Roman and Hellenistic mythology as goddess and patroness of countryside, nature, hunters, wildlife and childbirth. This fine example is French, circa 1860. It is raised onto a sophisticated base with a thin bronze foot with a turned black slate plinth and above there is a highly decorative cast...

French bronze centerpiece raised on three legs ended with animal heads. France, circa 1880.    

Intricate French gilt bronze work depicting lovebirds sharing a worm above a pearl egg nest upon a tree, while a cobra nestles at the tree base. The work is ...