*Italy, Leone Leoni (c. 1509-90), The Triumph of Giannettino Doria guided by Andrea Doria as Neptune, bronze plaquette, c. 1541-2, Giannettino dressed in antique armour, holding aloft a trident and seated in a sea-chariot pulled by a pair of seahorses in stormy waters and flanked by two sea-monsters; above and to his right is Andrea Doria as Neptune standing in a sea-chariot, beckoning back to him; in the sea is a nereid and triton and a further triton on the right blows a conch shell; with an inscription at upper left: ANDR PATRIS AVSPITIIS ET PROPRIO LABORE, 87 x 76mm (Molinier 352; Bange 929; Kress 75, fig. 420; Scaglia VIII.35; Toderi (1996) 110; Warren, Ashmolean 286), solder mark on reverse, dark patina, an extremely fine contemporary cast. The inscription translates as “Under the auspices of his father Andrea and by his own efforts” proving that the principal figure in the sea-chariot is indeed Giannettino rather than, as supposed in the past, Andrea; and the plaquette celebrates Giannettino’s victory over the Turkish corsair Dragut in 1540. In common with most known examples there is the reproduction of a crack on the upper left side indicating that they come from a common flawed model. For two associated plaquettes, each evidently unique, by Leoni, Andrea Doria between Peace and Fame and Giannettino Doria sacrificing see Warren, Ashmolean, figs. 307 and 308 and Dora Thornton’s article in the Burlington Magazine, 148 (2006), 828-32 on the acquisition of the latter plaquette by the British Museum.

Estimate: GBP 4000 - 6000