Gilt Bronze Casket with Lapis Lazuli Panels

Comprising two designs in relief: three horses in an enclosure; two felines grappling with each other. 1.24 kg total, 9.4 x 10 - 9.5 x 10.4 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.

The tile production increases in the second half of the sixteenth century and during the following centuries. The fragments discovered from various localities (pot-tiles, rectangular, triangular and trapezoidal panels, open-work crest tiles) were all produced in regional workshops, from the end of the 15th century or at the beginning of the 16th century. They all had diverse decorative motifs, mainly animals and geometrical or vegetal combinations, almost all of them singular finds for this study area.

Clad in garments evoking the Middle Ages, modelled in the round stalking his prey with a cage in one hand and a cudgel or baton held in the other, ready to strike; a number of birds suspended from his belt, together with other pouches; mounted on a veined granite base. 6.2 kg, 29.5 cm



Private collection, England.

Executed in the style of Giambologna (Giovanni da Bologna, 1529-1608), the famed Florentine sculptor whose work was favoured by the Medici family. It is similar to another bronze in the Detroit Institute of Art, where it is ascribed to Antonio Susini, a student of Giambologna.

Hollow-formed janiform bust with wreath to the brows. 634 grams, 16 cm high



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.