Composite lamp. Venetian art, 17th century. Bronze with bituminous patina.

8.5 x 16 x 8 cm

This curious lamp, apparently shaped like a swan, must be observed carefully, as it hides a secret.

On his back, with his jaws wide open, was a grotesque mask.

The swan's "tail" even hides the head of an elephant with its trunk pointing upwards, from which the wick emerges.

If we place it vertically, the mouth of the mask becomes the toothed mouth of a dolphin.

This oil lamp is held by some of the most important museums in the world, including the Bargello in Florence, the Bode Museum in Berlin, the Galleria Estense in Modena and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

All present small variations, in particular the Cambridge one hides the mask of a grinning satyr in the base.

This Renaissance object has been attributed to various artists, including "Riccio", but without certainty.

It recalls the medieval "crickets", composite and improbable creatures.

Our lamp is a replica, with slight variations, of the known ones and for this reason it seems correct to place it in a later period, perhaps in the 17th century.

The typically Venetian patina is beautiful, bituminous where it has resisted, more transparent where it has been worn away by incessant rubbing.

Bibliography:
Volker Krahn, Venetian Bronzes, SMB-DUMONT, Germany, 2003, pp.104-107.