Spectacular Ca. 1500 Round Plaquette by Moderno

The Fall of Phaeton or Death of Hippolytus

Galeazzo Mondella, called Moderno (c. 1467-1529). Round Plaquette of The Fall of Phaeton or Death of Hippolytus.

106.5 x 105.8 mm. 197 grams. Bronze. Molinier 191; Bange 467; Lewis ["The Plaquettes of 'Moderno' and His Followers," 1989] 29, fig. 33; Scaglia V.38; Kress 160; Maclagan p. 33; Bargello 174; Warren, Ashmolean, 324. Uniface. Rich charcoal brown patina with some trivial hints of brassy undertones on high points. Well detailed and attractive, with no evidence of chasing on the obverse. Some casting flaws and pits are seen on the blank back. Edges filed and finished, oval depression on edge at 12 o'clock remains from a former mounting. "Moderno" has been written in black ink in an antique script on the back. A magnificent piece of art, dated to ca. 1500-1505 and called "a very fine contemporary cast with dark patina" by Morton & Eden in 2020. Pieces of this quality and age bridge the gap between numismatics and adjacent fields of art and sculpture. This piece set an auction record for a plaquette by Moderno when it sold in 2020, surpassing the £22,800 level set by the more recently-attributed Moderno plaquette of Standing Hercules and the Nemean Lion in Morton & Eden's 2019 Auction 105, offered elsewhere in this sale. As an unquestioned work by Moderno himself of long standing, accomplished with astonishing expertise and vision, this plaquette stands atop his most desirable works. Douglas Lewis' 1989 paper in Studies in the History of Art, Vol. 22. describes this plaquette as "the masterpiece of Moderno s 'archaeologically' classicizing style," continuing to say: "The balance and foil of richly modeled forms, intricate curvilinear detail, and dramatic open space is nowhere better handled by Moderno than in the Phaeton."

From the Santini Collection of Renaissance Medals. Earlier from Morton & Eden's Auction 109, November 2020, lot 7 (at £48,000).

Estimate: $40000.00 - $60000.00