A pair of Venetian bronze candlesticks

A pair of Venetian bronze candlesticks, second half 16th century, the sockets cast as three handled urns with swagged grotesques, above acanthus cast drip pans, on domed bases relief cast with further grotesque masks and festoons

12cm high, 14cm diameter

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

Cf. W. Bode, The Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance, M.A.S. de Reinis, New York, 1980, Plate CXXIV for a similar candlestick held at London's Victoria & Albert Museum, and another at the Bargello in Florence

Also Irene Martin (Ed.), The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Renaissance and Later Sculpture, Sotheby's Publications, 1992, p176, fig.2, a pair cited from the Frick Collection, New York and identified as workshop of Gaspare Macri, Brescia, mid 16th century

Condition Report: The candlesticks bear the usual marks knocks and abrasions overall consistent with age and use.

The patina is of a regular, dull olive hue throughout.

The urn sockets, drip pans and bases are cast as separate elements and held by a central stem. In one of the candlesticks this is slightly loose, and the three parts can be turned independently.

Otherwise their are no significant detractions to the lot.