Live Auction 7822Cabinet d'un Amateur Européen
Christie’s roundel
Lot 409

Attributed to Mario Nuzzi, called Mario dei Fiori (Rome 1603-1673)

Narcissi, Daffodils, Clematis, Tulips, Carnations and other flowers in an ornemental vase on a stone legde

Closed9 December 2009

Estimate

GBP 50,000–70,000

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Attributed to Mario Nuzzi, called Mario dei Fiori (Rome 1603-1673)
Narcissi, Daffodils, Clematis, Tulips, Carnations and other flowers in an ornemental vase on a stone legde
inscribed 'Mario del Fiori pinx (...)' (on the stretcher) and 'Mara dei Fiori pinx./+ zu Rom 1629/im 77. Jahre seines/Lebens' (on the reverse, according to an old label glued on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
36 7/8 x 29 in. (93.4 x 74 cm.)

(Possibly) acquired by Heinrich XIV Reuss, Gera.
Cadet branch of the Princelly House of Reuss, sale; Christie's, Düsseldorf, 26 May 1998, lot 250, where acquired by the present owner.

Specialist note

The present painting has been linked to the princely house of Reuss for its entire known history. In the 17th Century, the house Reuss-Gera itself was divided into three lines: Reuss-Gera, Reuss-Schleiz and Reuss-Lobenstein. In 1673, the Holy Roman Emperor elevated the heads of these three lines to Reichsgraf or Imperial Count. The Reuss-Gera line survived until 1802. The counts of Reuss-Lobenstein became princes in 1790. Various Reuss-Lobenstein lines died out, and the principality passed from cousin to cousin. Eventually the last Fürst zu Reuss-Lobenstein abdicated in favour of a distant cousin in the Reuss-Schleiz line. Having inherited the Gera lands in 1802 and having themselves been elevated to princes in 1806, with this abdication, the line of Reuss-Schleiz succeeded in reuniting the Reuss Younger Line.