CA0300 Rare Grand Tour bronze Discophorus on Pietra Dura base

Rare early 19th century Grand Tour Italian patinated bronze Discophorus. Representing an idealised athlete carrying a disc: a young, muscular, solidly-built athlete in a moment of thought before throwing a discus. The original, now lost, is believed to be by the Greek sculptor Naucydes in the 4th century BC. Two Roman marble copies remain from the 1st–2nd century AD in the Louvre and the Pio-Clementino Museum in the Vatican in Rome. Early, cast in sections, with a lovely deep dark brown patina, possibly by Giuseppe Boschi (1783-1824). Presented on a beautiful pietra dura opus sectile base after a design at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli.Italy, probably Rome circa 1800.

H 42cm W 26cm x D 26cm