Lot 343A: Plaster Cast, early 20th Century, after Luca Della Robbia (Italian, 1400-1482) Trumpeters with Dancing Children, from the Cantoria F...

Plaster Cast, early 20th Century, after Luca Della Robbia (Italian, 1400-1482)

Trumpeters with Dancing Children, from the Cantoria Frieze. Unsigned Painted cast plaster, 20 x 18 1/4 x 3 1/2 in., unframed. Condition: Scattered chips and scratches, loss to u.r. corner and to side of u.l. corner, surface grime, with dirt and dust in the interstices.

N.B. In 1431, Luca della Robbia (Italian, 1400-1482) was commissioned to create a marble Cantoria over the door of the Sacristy of the Masses, also known as the New Sacristy, in the cathedral in Florence. The original is now located in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence. The panel cast here illustrates the verse in the Psalms, "Praise him with sound of the trumpet." Casts of Renaissance and antique sculptures, made for sale by the commercial plaster casters, were enjoyed by collectors and were used to educate art students at the turn of the 20th Century.