The circular basin chased and engraved to the border depicting battle scenes between merpeople, hippocampi, birds, and other mythical creatures, the center depicting a similar battle between humans and merpeople centering the emblem of the Medici family, the vase-form ewer similarly decorated and with acanthus and grotesque mask borders, with serpent-form loop handle, marked on rim of basin and foot of ewer, and with French import mark
23⁵⁄₈ in. (60 cm.) diameter, the basin; 15¹⁄₄ in. (38.5 cm.) high, the ewer
110 oz. 8 dwt. (3,433 gr.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, Monaco, 16-17 June 2001, lot 359.

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Lot Essay

The basin offered here is based on a 17th century shield, now lost, created for Giovanni Vitello. The decoration of both the shield and the present lot, depicting the battle of the Lapithes and Tritons, was inspired by drawings by Bernardino Passeri (1540 - 1596) and engraved by Phillipe Thomassin around 1617-1619. A design for the shield is currently in the British Royal Collection, London (RCIN 721066.a), while a version of the print by Thomassin is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-P-OB-63.611).