Black lacquer over dark green patina, 30.5cm wide.
Giambologna (1529-1608) was a master sculptor who specialised in works featuring complex, intertwined elements.
Small bronze reductions of many of his sculptures were prized by connoisseurs like Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793), who purchased this example in Italy during his first Grand Tour in 1763.
It was listed in the 1763 Burghley Inventory: ‘the dressing room ..a Lyon devouring a horse in bronze on an ebony stand ornamented with brass.’
