ITALIAN GILT BRONZE 'NEPTUNE' SALT CELLAR 18TH CENTURY/

ITALIAN GILT BRONZE 'NEPTUNE' SALT CELLAR 18TH CENTURY/ EARLY 19TH CENTURY the central figure of Neptune sitting astride a dolphin whilst holding a shell with a hinged cover and flanked by further shells, on a rococo style rocaille base (26cm long, 16.5cm high, 17.5cm deep) Footnote: Note: The central figure of Neptune holding an opening shell and riding a dolphin, was an immensely popular late Renaissance subject. Multiple examples exist in private and public collections including the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Madrid, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Anthony Radcliffe has proposed an attribution of the model to Francesco Fanelli, but this has recently been questioned in favour of an unknown master active in the late 16th or early 17th century. The rocaille base on the present lot clearly provides a terminus post quem to the 18th or possibly 19th century. For a similar example see Sotheby's 3 December 2008, lot 72, The Studiolo: Old Master Paintings and Works of Art from the London Residence of Luigi Koelliker.