Michael Lake
Head of Department
Lot 148
Workshop of Giambologna, known as Jean de Boulogne (Flemish-Italian, 1529-1608): An early 17th century Italian bronze statuette of a bagpiperprobably Florentine, circa 1600
21 November 2018, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£15,000 - £20,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our Home and Interiors specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Workshop of Giambologna, known as Jean de Boulogne (Flemish-Italian, 1529-1608): An early 17th century Italian bronze statuette of a bagpiper
probably Florentine, circa 1600
the young muscian clad in a wide brimed hat, tunic and boots, seated on a rustic tree stump on oval base, dark brown lacquered patina, raised on a later ebonised wood rectangular plinth with moulded foot,
9.5cm high, 16.5cm high including plinth
the young muscian clad in a wide brimed hat, tunic and boots, seated on a rustic tree stump on oval base, dark brown lacquered patina, raised on a later ebonised wood rectangular plinth with moulded foot,
9.5cm high, 16.5cm high including plinth
Footnotes
Provenance:
Acquired by a private UK collector, Sotheby's, New York, The Cyril Humphries Collection of Works of Art and Sculpture, 10 January 1995, lot 80.
Literature:
Giambologna, 1529-1608, Sculptor to the Medici, Arts Council of Great Britain Exhibition, 1978, Edinburgh and London, No.'s 135-136.
The subject of the bagpiper player is generally thought to be derived from an engraving by Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) dated 1514 and is generally accepted as a model by Giambologna or possibly a close follower such as his assistant and successor as sculptor to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Tacca (1577-1640).
Bronze statuettes such as this, were highly sought after by collectors at this time because they often provided smaller versions of large statues and coincided with an upsurge of interest in classical antiquity.
The rustic and pastoral theme of this model appealed to collectors of the day and the tradition of such genre figures may already have been established north of the Alps before there was one in Italy. The model's similarity to Dürer's engraving of 1514 (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) shows a standing, cross-legged Bagpiper, suggesting that Giambologna could certainly have owned a copy of the print.
It is known that a statuette of a Bagpiper was sent to Henry, Prince of Wales, in England in 1611 as a gift from the Medici during unsuccessful negotiations of a marriage contract.
