TWO-HANDLED CUP
bronze
This elegant vase, characterized by an oval body on foot and by high vertical handles based on the ancient Greek kantharos, is enriched by a figuration of centaurs and cherubs in high relief.
The inscription “Fonderia Giorgio Sommer Calabritto 2-3 Napoli” that is on the foot of the cup places its origin in the renowned foundry opened in Naples by Giorgio Sommer (Frankfurt-am-Main 1834 – Naples 1914), a versatile German man known mostly for his photography. Besides documenting with his photographs the local beauties and the habits and customs of the Neapolitan people, Sommer, who settled in the city in 1856, was an appreciated photographer of antiquities and archeological findings, an activity that he was ingeniously able to combine with a fervent enterprise specializing in artistic craft products and reproductions, founded around 1897.
Naples, last quarter of the 19th century
cm 32 height, cm 24 diameter
