Willows Antiques & Interiors

Description

A fabulous bronze Medici Lion set on a sienna marble base. The lion’s front left paw rests on a sienna marble ball.

France, circa 1840.

Superb detail to bronze with warm rich patination.

An excellent example of this well-known grand tour subject.


The Medici lions are a pair of marble sculptures of lions, one of which is Roman, dating to the 2nd century AD, and the other a 16th-century pendant.

By 1598 both were placed at the Villa Medici, Rome. Since 1789 they have been displayed at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence. The sculptures depict standing male lions with a sphere or ball under one paw, looking to the side.