CESARE LAPINI (ITALIAN, 1848-1893): AN ORIENTALIST MARBLE BUST OF ODALISQUE (LA SULAMITIDE)

the youthful maiden wearing a decorative headdress over her long flowing, curly hair, with a border of coins and wearing a necklace of coins, her drapery falling seductively from her shoulders, raised on a waisted cylindrical socle, signed 'C. LAPINI FIRENZE 1892',

67cm high

Please see lot 139 for the marble column featured in the image.

Cesare Lapini is arguably the most highly regarded of a group of marble sculptors working in Florence in the last quarter of the 19th century. He exhibited at the Galleria Bazzanti along with many of the most talented and renowned sculptors of the day, such as Ferdinando Vichi, Guglielmo Pugi, and of course Pietro Bazzanti. The subject of the marble, Sulamitide, is inspired by the 18th century author Giuseppe Maria Ercolani’s play La Sulamitide boschereccia sagra di Neralco - pastore arcade, published in 1732, about a son of the king of Egypt during the time of Solomon. Other Italian sculptors such as Raffaello Romanelli and Pasquale Romanelli also produced works of the same subject, see Romanelli's marble Sulamitide at Sotheby's, 12 July 2017, lot 46 (£40,000 - 60,000).

A bust of Cleopatra by Lapini was recently sold at Sotheby's London, 10 July 2019, lot 45 (£16,250).