PADUAN BRONZE ARTIST, XVI-XVII CENTURY, Inkwell held by classical gods and goddesses.

Black-coated bronze. 22,5 x 34 x 31 cm

Noteworthy inkwell of monumental grandeur composed of three classical deities, their feet planted on sphinxes.
The three characters are laying their back against a three-faced structure decorated with goat heads and garlands, which is sustaining the pod-shaped inkwell.

An item of fine antiquarian taste, it features a few casting defects and was roughly refined, as per usual with Renaissance-era items. The lid is missing.

It could be the work of a Paduan workshop from the XVI century, or the first decades of the XVII.

The decorative motifs of this inkwell remind us of great Paduan artists of the time, such as Tiziano Aspetti, Gerolamo Campagna and Niccolò Roccatagliata: and in particular the arms-bearing figures depicting Mars and Minerva, dominant in these artists’ opus. Following are some examples of works from the aforementioned artists that could be compared to our inkwell.

Comparative bibliography:

Donatello e il suo tempo. Il bronzetto a Padova nel Quattrocento e nel Cinquecento, catalogo della mostra a cura di D. Banzato, Milano 2001.