CANDELABRUM DESIGNED AS A NEREID

Workshop of Severo Calzetta da Ravenna or his son Niccolò Calzetta, Ravenna, 16th century.
Bronze. Designed as the bust of a woman holding two curved candlesticks on her outstretched arms, with later vase-shaped nozzles. On a later foot designed as an eagle's claw.
H 26 cm.

The candelabrum on offer matches a relatively well-known model, existing in different variations, which was attributed in earlier literature to Andrea Riccio. For example, a very similar candelabrum, also standing on an eagle's claw, from the Collection E. Foulc Paris (Wilhelm Bode: Die Italienischen Bronzestatuetten der Renaissance, Berlin 1922, p. 57). In the version revised by James David Draper, the same figure is newly attributed to Severo of Calzetta da Ravenna or his son Niccolò Calzetta.
This newer attribution is gaining acceptance in recent literature. For example, a candelabrum with the same nereid, but on a trumpet-shaped foot, from the Carrand Collection, in the possession of the Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Tommaso Rago: Calzettiana Tarda. I Bronzeti della Bottega Ravennate di Severo Calzetta del Nuseo Nazionale del Bargello e del Museo Stefano Bardini a Firenze, Florence 2015, Ill. 53). Also attributed to Calzetta is a very similar claw-footed candelabrum in the Art Institute Chicago, dated ca. 1520, but the light branches of which, unlike the one on offer, have scales and are designed as fish tails (Inventory No. 94174).