PANDIANI FOUNDRY (?), XIX CENTURY, Inkwell

Coated bronze. 18 x 12,5 x 10,5 cm

An exquisite inkwell, very Renaissance-era Padua in taste. It closely resembles the style of Niccolò Roccatagliata (Genoa, 1570 - Venice, post 1636).
Likely to be a product of the late 1800s, perhaps by the Pandiani foundry, active at the time in Milan.

Roccatagliata was notorious for his enchanting putti and cherubs placed on the lids of inkwells and on monumental altars.
This Cupid, who is stepping on a dolphin's head and shushing the viewer, can be compared with the one at the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti, in the Ca' d'Oro of Venice.