Beschreibung:

A Continental gilt bronze candle holder in the form of a recumbent lion, probably Augsburg, 16th century, the pricket sconce within a tapering, foliate cast stem rising above the lion's back, on a serpentine stalk held in the beast's jaws and held below by its left forepaw, the lion's tail curling upwards to its back, 11cm high, 11cm long Candle holders with leonine bases were not uncommon in the centuries preceding the Renaissance. 14th century examples were held in the collection of the French Mediaevalist Achille Jubinal, although the 13th century example in the Hildesheim Cathedral Treasury is more well known The example offered here though has much more in common with 16th century German work, where the depiction of the lion is both far more realistic and far more naturalistic, entirely in keeping with Renaissance advancements. Similarities can be drawn with an example offered at Sotheby's Paris, Important Mobilier, Sculptures et Objets d’Art, 5th May 2015, lot 95: 'Lion couché, Allemagne, Augsbourg, XVIe siècle', in which the texture of the lion's body beneath the mane is achieved with an all over finish, post casting, of repeated and regular small chasing marks. Another comparable German 16th century model of a recumbent lion was offered by Cambi Casa d'Aste, Genoa on 17th November 2016, lot 1467. That example bore a vacant socket in its back, which might have originally housed a stem for a candle holder Condition report disclaimer