Lot 281: A PAIR OF WHITE-GLAZED TERRACOTTA FIGURES OF TORCHERE-BEARING ANGELS

A PAIR OF WHITE-GLAZED TERRACOTTA FIGURES OF TORCHERE-BEARING ANGELS
ATTRIBUTED TO BENEDETTO BUGLIONI (1459-1521), CIRCA 1480-1490
Each on an integral plinth; cracks, repairs and surface dirt
19 5/8 in. (49.9 cm.) high (2)

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

Benedetto Buglioni was a pupil of Andrea Verrocchio who later worked with Andrea Della Robbia. From the latter, Buglioni learned glazing techniques before opening his own workshop in Florence in the 1480s. The modelling of the faces, the wings and the expression of the eyes of the angels offered here show a clear debt to della Robbia's style, particularly when one considers the figure of Gabriel in the latter's Annunciation in the Cappella Niccolini, La Verna (A. Marquand, Andrea della Robbia and his Atelier, New York, 1972, I, fig. 40). Comparisons between the present lot and the Niccolini Annuncation can also be drawn from the thick curly hair, the restrained facial expressions and the modelling of the wings.

Although no other examples of the present figures are known to date, a single candelabrum-bearing angel in Cavriglia (illustrated in ibid, fig. 14) by Benedetto Buglioni dated to circa 1480-90 shares some stylistic similarities with the present angels: the general composition of the gown with intersecting bands on the chest, the softly worked feathers of the wings and more distinctively, the oval-shaped faces with almond-shaped eyes and heavy eyelids.