This compelling Italian 19th century white glazed porcelain sculpture depicts ‘The Rape of the Sabines’, after a monumental work by the Renaissance artist, Giambologna (1529-1608) that can still be viewed in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy.
Our porcelain small scale sculptural group was handcafted by Ginori, one of the most important Italian porcelain manufacture and bears the crowded N mark underglazed under the plinth base.
This sculpture faithfully reproduces the original white marble one, created between 1579-83 and considered the masterpiece of the Flemish sculptor and architect who mostly lived and worked in Florence. Examination of the Ginori Manufactory in Doccia’s Inventory of models, which can be dated to between 1780 and 1791, reveals the attention paid to Florentine sculptors from the Renaissance period onwards.
Our glazed porcelain figural group depicts the abduction of a Sabine woman by two Roman men, based on the classical myth of the abduction of the Sabine Woman . The event has been perfectly captured by the original model so that the statuette is invested with activity and emotion.
The woman is lifted into the air by one man, launched towards the sky she is trying to escape, while another man crouches below. The sculpture is intended to be viewed in the round. That is, the three bodies, all depicted naked, wrap around a central axis in a serpentine movement, which unfolds as the viewer moves around the piece. This staging plays on serpentine lines and diagonals giving a beautiful variety of volumes, draw eyes to a multiplicity of angles of view and an incredible sense of motion.
This highly detailed, technically challenging example, captures the essence of the original sculpture, the arcs, bends, curves, the convolution is well executed, the movement is evident.
The result of the action of these three figures is a unique elegance, which fostered the success of the porcelain, maiolica and bronze miniature versions as shown by the examples present in the major European connoisseurs' collections. It is due to the popularity of this masterpiece, apart from its quality, that casts inspired by it were made in different materials and sizes already at the time the author was still alive, and, of course, during the Grand Tour period.
The copies of this sculptural group - almost always much smaller than the original- are now kept in important museums' collections such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York or the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Rome.
Our sculpture is set on a square plinth - which is one piece with the sculpture of the three human figures placed above. N crowded mark under the base. Creamy white glazed porcelain in unbelievable good condition but with the addition of an original wonderful patina!
Measures: H. 41 cm, base 14x14 cm