This gorgeous pair of frames fully represents the triumph of Baroque iron. The frames are entirely made of embossed iron (repoussé): a particularly complex technique and a French prerogative that was brought back to excellent levels precisely during the Baroque era. The embossed iron is obtained from a foil and this implies (in fact, obtaining …
A wide and deep frame encloses the figure of the Child Jesus placed in a landscape at sunset. The Redeemer is represented as a naked little boy, resting on his side, with the right hand on his chest, the eyes looking upwards, and his mouth half open. The scene is rich in meaningful details: Jesus …
The quality of this nice pair of bronze doorknockers with dark patina is mainly due to their formal richness: a lyre-shaped body with arms adorned by foliages and vegetal scrolls among which – in the centre and in correspondence of the knocking element – appears the mask of a satyr with goat horns. Leonine and …
At first sight, this refined and curious object might look like a pistol but it is in fact a remarkable example of a mechanical tinder lighter designed for domestic use or, more precisely, a tinder-pistol. The piece examined here just looks like a small pistol, with an elegantly shaped walnut wood body on which different …
With the catalogue “Painting and goldworking in conversation. A Rare Fourteenth Century Sienese Casket“, the Alessandro Cesati gallery continued in 2019 a series of publications intended to significantly document important works of art, this time focusing on an extraordinary mid-fourteenth-century Sienese casket. The great importance of the piece led to the publication of a special …
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This rare coat of arms of a Cardinal, carved in low relief, painted and gilded, is the heraldic shield of Don Luis Manuel Fernandez de Portocarrero Bocanegra y Moscoso-Osorio (1635 -1709), a prominent figure in the history of Spain and then also in that of Sicily. Shields like this were located in representative places and …
This remarkable doorknocker, with its warm and attractive brown patina, is made up of a body in the shape of a hammer and a back plate. The rectangular back plate, cut-out and knurled on the profile, shows at the top a lily-shaped motif and it’s provided with a pair of symmetrical, repoussé and engraved half-columns, …
This elegant boxwood sculpture depicts St. John the Baptist as a child, standing on a rock populated by tiny animals; he wears his typical camel’s-hair robe, tightened around the waist by a rope, with the overturned upper flap and fastened on the side by froggings. The Baptist carries a little lamb in his left arm …
With his naked body and standing posture, the right arm raised in the act of blessing, the outstretched left arm perhaps intended to hold a small globe, the big round face with large eyes and dilated pupils, the red cheeks, the rounded eyebrows and meditative gaze, this Jesus Child can be compared – even if …
The tradition of dressed and bejewelled devotional sculptures dates back to Antiquity, survives during the Middle Ages and increases between 16th and 18th century, both in Italy and throughout Catholic Europe. Between Renaissance and Baroque, the evidences are extensive and articulated, although the results aren’t always aesthetically and artistically convincing. However, there are carved figures …