A rare and important Capodimonte vase and cover, circa 1750
Superbly painted by Giuseppe Caselli with a Bacchanalian scene, depicting a faun with cymbals dancing around a statue with a bust of Bacchus, three putti decorating its pedestal with grapevines, another putto grasping a goat by its horns, the reverse of the vase with a large floral spray including tulips and carnations, tied together with a blue ribbon, applied with two elaborately-moulded grotesque masks, each issuing from the terminal of a large shell forming the handle, the sides of the handles encrusted with fruiting vines, the stems in gold, the foot, neck and cover with formal gilt scrollwork, the cover with a grape and shell-shaped finial, 37cm high (very minor chips to some of the encrusted leaves, one handle cleanly re-stuck) (2)
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