Graeco-Roman, c. 1st Century AD
Height: 12.2 cm
Provenance: With Faustus Fine Art, 1984; Private collection (Mr. Acton) UK, acquired from Faustus 1984; Sold Christie's London, 7th December 1994, lot 99; UK Collection (M.W.), London
A finely modelled cast bronze stool leg, surmounted with a bust of a snarling leopard emerging from an acanthus bud, a large lion's paw below. The animal's characteristic spots inlaid with silver. a garland of ivy around its neck and knotted at the front.
Condition: Intact, some inlays now missing
Literature: Exhibited and published: 'Feats of Clay', Faustus Fine Art Ltd, Summer, 1989, no. 4
Comparatives: Furniture legs of similar form in marble were found in Pompeii, for example the three lion headed examples from a tripod table now standing in the atrium of the Domus di Casca. For discussion of Roman use of animal heads atop animal legs, see also Gisela M. A. Richter, 'The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans' (1966, London), p. 112, Figs. 572 and 577.
£8,500
Graeco-Roman, c. 1st Century AD
Height: 12.2 cm
Provenance: With Faustus Fine Art, 1984; Private collection (Mr. Acton) UK, acquired from Faustus 1984; Sold Christie's London, 7th December 1994, lot 99; UK Collection (M.W.), London
A finely modelled cast bronze stool leg, surmounted with a bust of a snarling leopard emerging from an acanthus bud, a large lion's paw below. The animal's characteristic spots inlaid with silver. a garland of ivy around its neck and knotted at the front.
Condition: Intact, some inlays now missing
Literature: Exhibited and published: 'Feats of Clay', Faustus Fine Art Ltd, Summer, 1989, no. 4
Comparatives: Furniture legs of similar form in marble were found in Pompeii, for example the three lion headed examples from a tripod table now standing in the atrium of the Domus di Casca. For discussion of Roman use of animal heads atop animal legs, see also Gisela M. A. Richter, 'The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans' (1966, London), p. 112, Figs. 572 and 577.
£8,500
