Live Auction 1113The Opulent Eye - 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe
A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE TORCHERES OF MERCURY AND FORTUNA
Lot 108

A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE TORCHERES OF MERCURY AND FORTUNA

AFTER THE MODELS BY GIAMBOLOGNA AND LOUIS GUILLAUME FULCONIS, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Closed14 March 2013

Price Realised

GBP 25,000

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A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE TORCHERES OF MERCURY AND FORTUNA
AFTER THE MODELS BY GIAMBOLOGNA AND LOUIS GUILLAUME FULCONIS, LATE 19TH CENTURY
Mercury raised on a plume of air from Zephyr's mouth, Fortuna on a wheel, each holding a cornucopia issuing floral branches, on stepped square rouge girotte plinths, drilled for electricity
79½ in. (202 cm.) high (2)

Specialist note

The original model upon which the bronze of Mercury is based was executed in 1564 by Giambologna (d.1608), court sculptor to the Medici dukes, and is now housed in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. The female figure balancing upon the 'wheel of fortune', also known as Cérès et la Fortune, is by Louis Guillaume Fulconis (d. 1873), who attended the Avignon Academy of Art before exhibiting at the Salon between 1857 to 1872. Likely conceived as a pair to the figure of Mercury, both models are recorded in the catalogue of the Barbedienne foundry.