Rome (third quarter of 15th century), Five Putti at Play, rectangular bronze plaquette, with the central putto wearing a bearded mask, frightening the putto in front of him who is supported by a third and with two further putti on the right, 48.5 x 88mm (Molinier 79; Bange 299; Kress 361; Bargello 287-288; Warren, Ashmolean, 376; Scaglia II.4 as circle of Cristoforo di Geremia), pierced, fine contemporary cast, the edges of the reverse chamfered. Jeremy Warren has noted that this plaquette type appears to be the earliest-known renaissance revival of the classical concept of masked infants playing at the bogeyman and is probably derived from a design on the side of a Roman sarcophagus (Warren p. 915).
Estimate: 1500 - 2000