Vip access
Favourites
Collection / Sculpture / 19th Century Sculpture
A Pair of Italian Alabaster Medici & Borghese Vases
A Pair of Italian Alabaster Medici & Borghese Vases
Dimensions: H: 19.5 in / 49.5 cm | Dia: 14.5 in / 36.5 cm
PRICE: £35,000
A Pair of Italian Alabaster Medici & Borghese Vases
Carved in relief with exceptional skill, the translucent alabaster urns modelled after two of Antiquity's most celebrated treasures, the Borghese Vase and the Medici Vase. Each vase having a wide egg-and-dart everted rim above a central frieze sculpted in relief with classical figures. The body is flanked by twin loop handles anchored by carved satyr masks, the Medici vase resting upon a gadrooned lower section while the Borghese model has gadrooning, both on a fluted pedestal socle, and a sturdy square plinth base.
Italian, circa 1870
Dimensions: H: 19.5 in / 49.5 cm | Dia: 14.5 in / 36.5 cm
Discovered in Rome during the 16th century, the original Medici and Borghese ancient marble kraters became quintessential icons of Classical Antiquity. One depicts a mythological gathering of heroes, while the other portrays a bacchanalian procession celebrating Dionysus. During the 19th century, scaled reductions in alabaster were prized Grand Tour souvenirs, making this pair a classic centrepiece of grand neoclassical design.
A related pair of Italian alabaster vases, sold from the Robert de Balkany collection, Christie's, London, 23 march, 2017, lot 402 (GBP £75,000).
You may also like
‘The Arab Falconer’ by Pierre-Jules Mene
A Pair of Figural Porte-Lumières, Cast by Barbedienne
A Marble Bust of a Classical Maiden
A Neo-Classical Patinated Plaster Figure
A Pair of Bronzed Equestrian Electrotypes By Pierre-Jules Mêne
A Faience Bust of Diana After Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse
Recently viewed
