A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-1
A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-2
A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-3
A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-4
A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-1A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-2A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-3A large Italian Baroque mortar - image-4

Lot 1111 Dα

A large Italian Baroque mortar

Auction 1131 - overview Cologne
17.05.2019, 17:00 - Highly Important Mortars from the Schwarzach Collection
Estimate: 12.000 € - 15.000 €
Result: 12.400 € (incl. premium)

A large Italian Baroque mortar

Cast bronze with mattified grey surface and green corrosion. Bell-shaped vessel with moulded base and thick, flaring moulded rim. The upper section cast with drapery held by winged grotesques. Two handles formed as winged female caryatids. H 43.7, D 49.2 cm. Weight ca. 120,0 kg. Including a corresponding iron pestle.
Attributed to Rome, mid-17th C.

Literature

Cf. a mortar with identical handles and similar form in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (inv. no. M.2681-1931), in: Motture, Bells & Mortars, London-New York 2001, no. 16.