A Fine and Well Cast Example of an Italian Grand Tour Patinated Bronze Relief Cast Model of the Medici Twin Handle Vase, after the antique Bennedetto Boschetti Foundry, 74 Via Condotti, Rome, active 1820-1870, early to mid Nineteenth Century, raised on an elaborate well veined Sienna marble square stepped base with on four toupee ormolu  supports.

This truly magnificent vessel of Campana form flanked by twin reeded handles each with two satyr mask terminals, encircled by a frieze of heroic Warriors, and the female figure Iphigena seated below a statue of a Goddess, rending on an achantus cast and fluted socle. 

Condition: Superb untouched condition with no losses to bronze or marble. 

Height: 10” (25.5cm). Diameter: (at top rim) 5.75” (14.5cm). Width: (at base) 4.75" (12cm). Depth: (at base) 4" (10.25cm).

 Shipped to San Diago, California, USA.

The Grand Tour has long been a symbol of wealth and freedom. In the late 16th century, it became quite fashionable for young aristocrats to visit Italy and France, as the finishing touch on their classical education. Travel was arduous and costly during this time and possible only for a privileged class, and thus the Grand Tour lasted until the 19th century, when railways across Europe allowed for easier travel. While these travels were very popular with the English, they were also undertaken by other Northern Europeans as well as Americans.

The Grand Tour was developed out of the idea of traveling for the sake of curiosity and cultural development. These travels not only provided a cultural education but it also allowed wealthier Grand Tourists an opportunity to purchase items unavailable at home, and it thus increased the travelers social standing and prestige. Travelers would return with crates of books, paintings, sculpture, and other cultural goods, which would be displayed in libraries, gardens, and purpose built galleries in their homes.

A large number of artists Such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) benefited from the patronage of the Grand Tour, as travelers purchased souvenirs.