Grand Tour – the “Triumph of Cupid”

19^th century Italian bronze ‘Grand Tour’ souvenir-type inkwell, attributed to Benedetto Boschetti, Rome. Circular cast bronze lidded inkwell mounted on a Rosso Antico and Nero Belgio base. The body of a fluted circular urn form with three lions’ mask mounts, raised on lion’s paw feet . The top edge cast with ‘egg-and-dart’ detail. The removable domed lid is surmounted with a detailed cast figure of a pensively posed winged Cupid with a quiver of arrows. Glass insert is missing.

The quality of the casting and subject matter, together with the use of the red and black marble base, leads to the probable attribution to the workshops of Benedetto Boschetti (1820-70) 74 Via Condotti Rome. Boschetti supplied high quality works of art to satisfy the academic and sophisticated tastes of the grand tourists. His work was widely praised, and he was awarded a medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The figure of Cupid as portrayed here, echoes one of his most celebrated works of a mosaic table in the Gilbert Collection at the Hermitage, depicting the ‘Triumph of Cupid’.