ITALIAN BRONZE BUST OF MELLEPHEBE AFTER THE ANTIQUE,cast by Fonderia Chiurazzi, Naples, founded in 1840. On marble socle. The original bust found in the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, owned by Lucius Calbunius Piso Calsovinus, in 58 BC, father-in-law of G. Julius Caesar, the villa was buried in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, it was identified around 1750 by the excavator Karl Weber, the original bust is now to show in the Museo Archeologico in Naples (IN. NR. 5633).
"To the Fonderia Chiurazzi belongs an exclusive gallery of plaster casts, a very famous and important collection of plugged plaster moulds produced copying the originals guarded in various Italian Museums, from the statues in the Museo Nazionale in Naples to...(the plaster cast) which is absolutely necessary for the bronze reproduction of classic...works' exact copies...is really exclusive ...in the whole world, as today no authorization at all is given from...the Authorities for the bronze reproduction of the works exhibited in the various Italian museums... it can be mentioned the provision for the "J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM' in Malibu in California (Villa dei Papiri replica) in 1974-75, which ordered all bronzes and marbles copies of the originals guarded in Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples to furnish its galleries" Dr. Carmela Iaccarino. - Bronze: 13 1/2 in. high. Estimate $2,000-3,000
PROVENANCE: Property of a Georgetown estate, Washington, DC
