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  • image SM volume 115/162e

Reference number

SM volume 115/162e

Purpose

Drawing 5 (lower right): Curving design with acanthus and zoomorphic figures

Aspect

Part of an ornamental composition

Scale

Not known

Signed and dated

  • c.1515
    Datable to c.1515

Medium and dimensions

Pen and brown ink over brown chalk

Hand

Bernardo della Volpaia

Notes

The decorative composition depicted here (c.1515) has a base of acanthus and rises in an arc to include half of a winged male figure, a winged protome with a bird’s head, and a dolphin protome being ridden by a triton with a spiralling lower body. Although without an overall symmetry, Ashby again considered it to have been based on an ancient painted example that was perhaps seen in the Golden House of Nero, but again no precise parallel can be found. It is more likely to be a modern invention, like the other drawings on the sheet.

Literature

Ashby 1904, p. 74
Census, ID 47233

Level

Drawing

Digitisation of the Codex Coner has been made possible through the generosity of the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance, Berlin.

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk