Live Auction 5703The European Connoisseur 500 Years Decorative Arts Europe
A PARCEL-GILT POLYCHROME CARVED WOOD RELIQUARY BUST OF ST PLACIDO
Lot 155 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
(LOTS 149-157)

A PARCEL-GILT POLYCHROME CARVED WOOD RELIQUARY BUST OF ST PLACIDO

HISPANO-NEAPOLITAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Closed6 July 2012

Price Realised

GBP 4,500

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A PARCEL-GILT POLYCHROME CARVED WOOD RELIQUARY BUST OF ST PLACIDO
HISPANO-NEAPOLITAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
With an integrally carved hexagonal wood base; inscribed along the front 'Sito/PLAC TO'; losses to the polychromy and gilding; the relic from the front and the right hand lacking
24¼ in. (61.5 cm.) high

Specialist note

The elaborate painting style of the present reliquary head is immediately comparable to the productive output of Neapolitan workshops while Naples was under Spanish rule. Its painting style, frontal composition and facial type closely recall the full length figure of San Francesco Saverio (Cagliari, Exma, Estofado de Oro: La statuaria lignea nella Sardegna spagnola, 16 Dec. 2001 - 27 Jan 2002, no. 75) carved in Naples in the second half of the 17th century.