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Лот 326 - Auction 54

Лот 326

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A seal by Benedetto Pistrucci. Precious amethyst intaglio, made by Benedetto Pistrucci and belonged to the artist ... Читать далее
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A seal by Benedetto Pistrucci. Precious amethyst intaglio, made by Benedetto Pistrucci and belonged to the artist himself. First face: bust of Jupiter; second face: eagle with lightnings; third face: the inscription BENEDETTO PISTRUCCI. Considered as one of the greater artists of his time, Benedetto Pistrucci (Roma, 24 maggio 1783 - Englefield Green, 16 settembre 1855) was a famous medallist, engraver of gems, cameos, coinages and medals. Born in the Eternal City, he moved to London in 1815, where he began to work at the Royal Mint (the british mint). Here, his most famous work has been the depiction of Saint George chasing the dragon, which was on the reverse of the Gold Sovereign since 1817. Among the numerous orders he got, Pistrucci also engraved a portrait of King George IV, and had been working for more than thirty years to create the famous Waterloo Medal, which is considered as his masterpiece. The artist started working at this project on 1817, receiving the official assignment in 1819; he finished the production only in 1849. Likewise famous are his renown waxes, conserved at the Museo della Zecca di Roma (Rome Mint Museum), first-hand sketches of his works to be made in metal or hard stone. Worth to mention his activity as engraver of intaglios and cameos, the which were considered as really rare items; he is known, as an artist, also for having reworked/retouched important and ancient cameos. This extraordinary amethyst seal (certainly referable to him), carrying his engraved initials and name, is to be considered an unprecedented piece of great importance, to be added to his fine production: having a triangular section, it shows rounded corners and the borders around the three engraving levels are characterized by small facets; the artifact has a classical, metallic, seal mounting, made as small arch with volutes, ending by an "à suspendre" ring (in order to hang it or use as a pendant). The wear marks and the micro-chippings on the faceted borders, other than the light and meaningless slipts due to heat inside the stone, prove that the seal was actually used with hot sealing wax. The amethyst type is light and pure, of a clear neo-classic taste. On the face that can be considered as the main one, the artist has engraved the mighty bust of Jupiter, turned to the left. The draped effigy is characterized by a thick hair, held by a band, and by a likewise thick beard. The intaglio is deep, and softly sculpted. On the second face there is an eagle, tightening some lightnings within the claws of both legs, fiercely spreading its wings and beak; on the third face of the bezel there is the inscription BENDETTO/PISTRUCCI, engraved in his typical handwriting (in the usual reading direction, so not inverted as we often see on intaglios), and intentionally meant to be on the third face. Such inscription is there first of all to state the private belonging of the seal; at the same time it declares authorship. The choice of creating and owning a seal with the effigy of the King of Olympus on, to be intended as Jupiter Capitolinus, and of the eagle with the god's attributes (timeless symbols of the classicality and supremacy - military, cultural and artistic - of the Greco-Roman civilisation), may contain even some personal references, other than allegorical ones, even though it's not always possible to identify them all within the currently known sources. The use of such symbology makes clear the relationship between the artist and his birthplace: Rome. Because of his italian origin, the artist was never officially recognized as the head-engraver of the Royal Mint, and there were notable rivalries with the other foreigner engravers, among whom there was Wyon. Benedetto Pistrucci, the heir of classicity but a highly creative artist and a spirit of his time, will die in England.
The intaglios on the seal have been made with great artistry and an absolute technical competence. Every detail, carried out with an outstanding refinement and following Pistrucci's typical aesthetic and expressive sensibility, has been mirror-finish polished. The composition and the engraving style of the eagle speak a skillful hand, with competences related to coinage and medal production. Even the details in Jupiter's face can be compared with some of Pistrucci's rare hard stone works. The way the mouth and moustache are rendered, for example, is the same of Massinissa's cameo, (sardonyx, Firenze, Museo Archeologico, signed PISTRUCCI under the bust), or of the cameo depicting a fluvial deity (sardonyx, Vienna, Kunsthistoisches Museum). An interesting comparison can be made also with the production by his daughter Maria Elisa Pistrucci, who was very skilled in engraving cameos following her father's model (see sardonyx cameo with Jupiter's bust, already in the Esmerian Collection, and signed M.E.P.; also in this case, the detail of the semi-closed mouth, framed by an elongated moustache, and the way the thick hair is sculpted, is absolutely crucial). The inscription in capital letters is fully ascribable to Pistrucci's writing style. The photgraphic evidence of three red casts in sealing wax (surrounded by a golden paper frame in the same way of the Grand Tour plaster or sulfur casts) from the 19th century, casts taken at the time of the above mentioned seal, has been found within the archive of a private collection. Those casts had probably been detached from a paper document (and this would explain the splits and cracks which are typical of the hardened sealing wax) and this way preserved, accompanied by the written note "Impressioni dal Sigillo del prof. Bendetto Pistrucci maestro in glittica". Two rare plaster casts from the 19th century, reproducing the Waterloo Medal, are sold together with the amethyst seal; they both have the same, ancient provenance (one of the cast has been damaged). For essential comparisons and insights: Bollettino di numismatica (monografia), Roma, Museo della Zecca. Benedetto Pistrucci, (in frontespizio: I modelli in cera di Benedetto Pistrucci, di Lucia Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli)voll. I-II, I.P.Z.S. 1989; Bollettino di numismatica- Studi e ricerche, Benedetto Pistrucci. Carte autografe ed altri documenti, di Lucia Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, n.3, anno 2017, I.P.Z.S.. 19th century.
Intaglio 18 x 25 16 mm; total size (mounting + stone) 31 x 31 mm; gr. 11,67.

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