Live Auction 7586West ~ East - The Niall Hobhouse Collection
AN ITALIAN BRONZE MODEL OF THE BARGELLO CANNON, CALLED THE SAN PAOLO
Lot 259

AN ITALIAN BRONZE MODEL OF THE BARGELLO CANNON, CALLED THE SAN PAOLO

AFTER COSIMO CENNI, 19TH CENTURY

Closed22 May 2008

Price Realised

GBP 2,500

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AN ITALIAN BRONZE MODEL OF THE BARGELLO CANNON, CALLED THE SAN PAOLO
AFTER COSIMO CENNI, 19TH CENTURY
One end deocrated with a bust of St. Paul, the barrel elaborately decorated with the Medici coat-of-arms, figures of Mars and Minerva, military trophies and two seated lions, mounted in a wood cradle, dark brown patina with lighter high points
22 in. (56 cm.) long

Specialist note

The original of this huge cannon, called San Paolo, in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, is one of twelve guns, each of them named after an Apostle, cast in 1635 by Cosimo Cenni, for Ferdinand II of Medici. The head of St. Paul is at one end, inscribed above with the weight of the metal, 27,500 lbs., and the number 407, indicating the number of guns cast by Cenni by that date.