We cover five broad collecting areas of printed books: English and Continental Literature, Travel & Topography, Science & Natural History, First Editions & Modern, Children’s and Illustrated.
We have a busy week of auctions ahead of us. To start things off we have Fine Sculpture, Early Works of Art and Garden Ornament tomorrow, Tuesday 25 June.
Highlight | A pair of patinated bronze figural candelabra bases cast as tritons, inspired by Bernini and Tedesco and after designs by Josiah Wedgwood and Matthew Boulton.
These bronze candelabra bases are reminiscent of the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (notably the Triton Fountain in the Piazza Barberini, the Fontana del Moro in the Piazza Navona, amongst others). However, a more immediate source of comparison would appear to have been an Italian bronze of the late 17th or early 18th century belonging to the Royal Architect Sir William Chambers. From surviving correspondence, it is clear that Chambers lent this bronze to Josiah Wedgwood in 1769, and later it seems to have been passed into the Torlonia Collection in Rome. Now untraced, there is a related example is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Browse the catalogue:
www.dreweatts.com/auctions/sale-details/?saleId=14204