A pair of Handyside foundry cast iron Medici and Borghese urns
2nd half 19th century 74cm.; 29ins high From the mid 17th to the late 19th Century the Medici and Borghese urns or 'vases' were the most admired of all the antique models and were often paired together. The Medici urn is first recorded in 1598 in the inventory of the Villa Medici, Rome although there is evidence that it was there at least thirty years earlier. In 1780 it was removed to Florence and soon entered the Uffizi where it remains today. The vase was one of the most popularly reproduced antiquities being copied in marble, bronze, terracotta, alabaster and biscuit. It is believed that the original was executed in the second half of the first century A.D. The Borghese urn was first recorded in the garden of Carlo Muti in 1594 by Flaminio Vacca who added that it had been discovered along with the Silenus and Infant Bacchus on Muti's estate near present day Casino Massimo. In 1645 the urn had found its way into the Villa Borghese where it stayed until purchased by Napoleon in 1807. By 1811 it was on display in the Louvre where it remains today. These urns are illustrated in the 1874 Handyside catalogue No 3 & 3A.
A pair of Handyside foundry cast iron Medici and Borghese urns
2nd half 19th century 74cm.; 29ins high From the mid 17th to the late 19th Century the Medici and Borghese urns or 'vases' were the most admired of all the antique models and were often paired together. The Medici urn is first recorded in 1598 in the inventory of the Villa Medici, Rome although there is evidence that it was there at least thirty years earlier. In 1780 it was removed to Florence and soon entered the Uffizi where it remains today. The vase was one of the most popularly reproduced antiquities being copied in marble, bronze, terracotta, alabaster and biscuit. It is believed that the original was executed in the second half of the first century A.D. The Borghese urn was first recorded in the garden of Carlo Muti in 1594 by Flaminio Vacca who added that it had been discovered along with the Silenus and Infant Bacchus on Muti's estate near present day Casino Massimo. In 1645 the urn had found its way into the Villa Borghese where it stayed until purchased by Napoleon in 1807. By 1811 it was on display in the Louvre where it remains today. These urns are illustrated in the 1874 Handyside catalogue No 3 & 3A.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
