A cast bronze tondo "L'amour comédien" - image-1

Lot 543 Dα

A cast bronze tondo "L'amour comédien"

Auction 1107 - overview Cologne
15.05.2018, 11:00 - Decorative Arts
Estimate: 3.000 € - 4.000 €
Result: 3.720 € (incl. premium)

A cast bronze tondo "L'amour comédien"

In an ormolu frame with original hanging attachments. Cast in two parts. Depicting a group of two Classical ladies and a putto with a theatre mask by a sacrificial altar. Unmarked. Some rust to the back. D frame 31.7 cm.
France, ca. 1780.

In an article published in 1990, Gisela Zick uses this medallion (then still in private ownership) and a biscuit medallion inset into a royal cabinet in Fontainebleau Castle (Salon Jeux de la Reine) depicting the same scene as examples of how Neoclassical motifs were disseminated across Europe and realised in varying media. However, at the time, the accomplished art historian had no explanation for the origin of the motif.
An impressive Roman marble sculpture from the 1st C. A.D. depicting a young satyr with a theatre mask appeared in a New York auction in 2013. It was originally found in the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi (the Gardens of Sallust in antiquity) in 1620. The work caused a sensation when it was found. Stefano della Bella drew the piece several times, and Alessandro Algardi replaced the finger of the hand reaching through the mouth of the mask in 1628. The satyr figure certainly provided the inspiration for this composition, which was also used by Sèvres. Characteristically for the late Classicist period towards the end of the 18th century, the motif is transplanted into a differing and slightly romanticised context. Gisela Zick was not aware of the existence of the marble sculpture at the time her essay was published.

Provenance

Collection of Prof. Dr. Gisela Zick, purchased in May 1995 from Daxer and Marschall, Munich.

Literature

Illus. in: Zick, Sèvres und Wedgwood. Künstlerischer Austausch zwischen Frankreich und England, in Keramos, 1990/128, p. 11-34, illus. 1.