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Lot 66: ATTRIBUTED TO BARTHÉLEMY PRIEUR (CIRCA 1536-1611), FRENCH, LATE 16TH/ EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Est: £30,000 GBP - £50,000 GBP
Sotheby'sLondon, United KingdomDecember 07, 2010

Item Overview

Description

ATTRIBUTED TO BARTHÉLEMY PRIEUR (CIRCA 1536-1611), FRENCH, LATE 16TH/ EARLY 17TH CENTURY MERCURY PLAYING A FLUTE bronze, on an ebonised wood socle bronze: 21cm., 8¼in. socle: 8cm., 3 1/8 in.

Artist or Maker

Notes

Having formerly been attributed to both Domenico Poggini and Francesco di Sant'Agata, the Mercury is today considered to be a mobel by Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611), the Court Sculptor to Henri IV of France. Prieur is particularly celebrated for his bronzes, which range from portrait busts to statuettes with mythological subjects.

A very fine and large version (47cm) is in the Abbott Guggenheim Collection (Schwartz, op.cit.). Other smaller examples include one from the collection of Sir Frederick Ashton, in which the figure is without sandals (Trinity Fine Art, May 1995, no. 90) and a bronze sold at Sotheby's London on 16υth June 1983, lot 139.

In the inventory of the property of the famous garden designer André Le Nôtre (1613-1700), under the number 350, there is a reference to: une autre figure de bronze representant Mercure jouant de la flute, posee sur un pied d'ebeyne, prisee 40 l.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Guiffrey, 'Testament et Inventaire après décès de André Le Nôtre,' Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 1911, p. 256; R. Seelig-Teuwen, 'Kavalier und Magd, Zu Barthélemy Prieur Bronzestatuetten,' Weltkunst, 15 December 1991, 2, pp. 3707-3709

Auction Details

Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art

by
Sotheby's
December 07, 2010, 12:00 PM GMT

34-35 New Bond Street, London, LDN, W1A 2AA, UK