A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF AMPHITRITE AND BACCHUS

Although the two bronze offered here were originally from different sources, the Bacchus having been invented by Louis Garnier in the second half of the 17th century and the Amphitrite by Michel Anguier in circa 1652, they were often placed together in the 18th and 19th centuries as a 'false pair.' They were presumably considered a suitable match as a result of the mirroring poses of the figures, facial expressions and similar size. The pairing was made after 1699 when Baron Raymond Leplat, a Parisian agent working for Augustus the Strong, bought two bronze figures of Bacchus and Amphitrite for the Elector of Saxony's royal palace in Warsaw. However, due to the ongoing Nordic War the bronzes, along with a consigment of furniture and Chinese porcelain, were instead taken to Dresden, where they still reside today in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen (Souchal, loc. cit.).