Lot 323: After Valerio Cioli (Italian, 1529-1599): A 19th century bronze model of Morgante seated on a tortoise

the drunken dwarf seated on the tortoise with his right hand raised, dark brown patination, 12cm high

This model is after the marble sculpture by Cioli placed at the entrance to the Boboli gardens. It depicts Cosimo de Medici's favourite court dwarf (ironically called Morgante after the giant in the poem by Luigi Pulci) straddling a tortoise as though he is a drunken Bacchante. Morgante was portrayed numerous times both by painters and sculptors of the day including Bronzino and Giambologna, and for artists was a novel and humorous subject matter.