Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 126
A Doccia group of a shackled slave, circa 1770-1800
2 July 2019, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £892.50 inc. premium
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Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
A Doccia group of a shackled slave, circa 1770-1800
Modelled after the famous monument for Ferdinando I de Medici by Pietro Tacca, depicting a slave shackled to a tree stump with thick chains, 21.5cm high (some restoration)
Footnotes
The model is after one of the figures on the Monument of the Four Moors in Livorno, Italy, by Pietro Tacca of 1626. It was commissioned by Cosimo II to commemorate his father's victories over the Ottoman Empire and consists of an earlier statue of Ferdinando I and four bronze enslaved prisoners chained to the pedestal base, one of which is depicted in the present lot.
Another shackled slave from the same series is in the collection of the Sir John Soane's Museum, M214. For further reading on the interpretation of this sculpture at Doccia see: Anthea Brook, 'From Borgo Pinti to Doccia: The Afterlife of Pietro Tacca's Moors for Livorno' in E. McGrath and J.M. Massing (eds.), The Slave in European Art (2012).
