A pair of patinated bronze models of the Medici Vase, cast after the Antique

A pair of patinated bronze models of the Medici Vase, cast after the Antique, each of Campana form with egg-and-dart cast everted rim, the bodies with figural scenes in relief and each with twin reeded handles, the knopped and fluted stems son square section bases

31cm high, 20cm wide

CATALOGUE NOTES:

The Medici Vase is a monumental marble bell-shaped krater sculpted in Athens in the second half of the 1st century AD as a garden ornament for the Roman market. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

Standing 1.52 metres (approximately 5 feet) tall, it has a deep frieze carved with a mythological bas-relief that successfully defies secure identification: a half-draped female figure Iphigenia seated below a statue of a goddess on a high plinth, restored as Diana, with heroic warriors, perhaps Agamemnon and either Achilles or Odysseus standing to either side

The vase reappeared in the 1598 inventory of the Villa Medici, Rome, but its origin is unknown

Condition Report: The urns have a relatively even dark brown patina, with a lighter golden hue to the exposed edges and extremities, including to the reliefs and the socles.

There are several very minor casting inconsistencies and irregularities overall, including to the raised circular sections of the handles, the edges of the rims and one of the socles, but no major areas of damage detected otherwise.