antiquesandartireland.com

Pictured here is one of a rare pair of mid 18th century carved limestone Medici lions which made a hammer price of €42,000 at Adams house to garden sale in Dublin today. The Medici Lion, with its striding pose and paw resting upon a sphere, became a widely adopted sculptural type in eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland, particularly within the context of the Palladian revival. The model derives from a Roman marble of the second century AD and a pendant carved in 1598 by the Roman sculptor Flaminio Vacca (1538–1605), commissioned for the Villa Medici in Rome by Ferdinando I de’ Medici (1549–1609), Grand Duke of Tuscany. By the mid-18th century, British and Irish sculptors and masons were producing carved stone interpretations for architectural and landscape settings, particularly as gate or terrace ornaments. The pair had been estimated at €50,000-€70,000. A monumental neo classical white marble fountain made €18,000, a carved Dublin William IV doorcase made €11,000, a 19th century Scottish terracotta balustrade by Garnkirk made €11,000, a cast lead figure of Orpheus made €9,000, a pair of composite stone figures of seated hounds made €8,500, a large statuary and Sienna marble chimneypiece, an 18th century marble bust of Domitian Caesar and a reconstructed Portland Stone neoclassical doorcase all made €8,000.