Relief, bronze, an allegorical subject, by Vincenzo Danti, Italian (Florence), middle of 16th century

The relief consists of two separate fragments, of which the larger is divided by a vertical break. The first shows in the centre the upper half of a seated male figure with head in right profile and a wand or sceptre in one hand. To the left are the head, right arm and left hand of a bearded male figure, and to the right is a group of figures, of which the foremost, a youth in left profile, carries an armful of books. Further figures appear in the background. The second fragment shows the upper half of the body of a seated river god.

Purchased in London (Henry Harris Sale, Sotheby, 24 October 1950, No. 92, £230).

The two fragments conform the upper section and the lower left corner of a bronze relief in the centre of a door of a small safe or cupboard made by Vincezo Danti for Cosimo I de' Medici, now in the Museo Nationale, Florence.

This is part of a trial cast for the central relief of the bronze door of a safe designed by Vincenzo Danti (1530-1576) for Cosimo de' Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, now in the Museo Nazionale, Florence. The relief shows a Roman Emperor (Trajan?) surrounded by male figures with a personification of the River Tiber.

A.42:1-1950