Holt Antiques at East Raynham
A Late 17th or Early 18th Century Spanish Baroque Antique Carved Giltwood and Polychrome Retablo Fragment with a Cherub Head
A Late 17th or Early 18th Century Spanish Baroque Antique Carved Giltwood and Polychrome Retablo Fragment with a Cherub Head
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A vigorous fragment from a Spanish Baroque retablo, carved, gilt, and polychromed, and probably of the late 17th or early 18th century. It is shaped as a frieze with a central pendant tablet, a form that suggests it once crowned a niche or capped the central bay of an altarpiece.
Across the frieze, great fleshy acanthus leaves curl outwards from the centre in gilt C-scrolls and volutes against a silvery-grey ground. At either end is a whirling rosette, painted green and centred in gold. This full-blown, almost restless foliage, the hojarasca of Spanish baroque carving, was the defining ornament of retablo workshops in the decades either side of 1700.
Below, the pendant tablet holds a cherub’s head, framed by gilt scrolling leaves and set on a scalloped foliate collar. The face retains its original polychromy: painted eyes beneath arched brows, rosy cheeks, a small pursed mouth and dark curling hair that rises into a crest of acanthus. The expression is engagingly provincial, direct and slightly solemn.
It is a decorative and devotional piece of real character, ready to hang above a doorway, in a hall, or among a collection of ecclesiastical carving.
Provenance: Spain. Late 17th or early 18th century.
Material: Carved softwood, gessoed, gilt and polychrome.
Condition: Wear and losses to the gilding and polychromy, with the red ground showing through in places. A chip to the lower edge of the tablet, and an old fixing nail to the cherub’s brow. Extensive old worm to the plain boarded reverse (inactive and treated), which has a hanging loop. Untouched surface.
Dimensions: Height 11¾ in (30 cm); width 21⅝ in (55 cm); depth 3 1/2" (9 cm)
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1. LAPADA (London and Provincial Antique Dealers Association) – LAPADA is the UK’s largest trade association for professional art & antique dealers (representing approximately 500 UK dealer members). All items are backed by our LAPADA guarantee;
2. CINOA –Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d'Art, (or International Confederation of Art and Antique Dealers' Associations) is the world association of art & antique dealer associations (representing 5000 dealers from 32 associations in 22 countries);
3. The Norfolk & Suffolk Antique Dealers Association - Representing reputable, high quality antiques dealers based in Norfolk and Suffolk; and
4. FSB - Federation of Small Business.
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