A gemstone ink well with the gilt bronze figure of a bathing Diana
The fire-gilt bronze figure of the crouching goddess Diana with her bow on a lapis lazuli and rhodochrosite base. The four angles inset with two ink wells and two pounce boxes. Chips to the edge of the base, localised wear to the gilding. H 26.5, W 26.5, D 17.4 cm.
Russia, 1833, probably using a presumably earlier bronze figure from Italy.
The finely chased bronze is based on a Hellenistic sculpture traditionally called "Bathing Aphrodite". The woman is depicted in a posture that was typical of Greek women bathing, squatting in small basins and cleansing themselves with the help of maidservants who doused them with water. This statue was extremely popular in Roman times, and the figure was often placed in the baths of wealthy individuals.
Roman examples of the Crouching Aphrodite can be found in numerous museums and private collections, including the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Louvre in Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 09.221.1), the Museo del Prado and the Fondazione Torlonia (inv. MT 170). The motif was already disseminated through prints in the 16th century, both by Marcantonio Raimondi and in Germany by Albrecht Altdorfer. Famous sculptors such as Giambologna also copied the figure. Here, the well-known model has mutated into a bathing Diana, who can be so identified by her bow. This change may have been carried out at the customer's request.
The depicted drawing of the base is not identified and is not available in the original but only in a copy.
Provenance
Lord Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour, Baron of Craigmillar (1926 – 2007). By descent to Christopher and Mardi Gilmour, Winslow Hall, Buckinghamshire, England UK.
Italian Collection.