Group Of Four Neoclassical Vase Columns Italy Last Quarter Of The 18th Century

Group of four columns with a square base, made of lacquered poplar wood with a marbled effect to emulate porphyry; decorated with pastille carvings, lacquered and highlighted in gold. On the four top corners of each column, carved rosettes hold, like a float, fluttering ribbons and festoons of leaves, flowers and fruit. On the three visible sides of each column there are, just under the festoons, medallions depicting putti riding dolphins. The latter are presented according to two different versions that are very similar to each other: in the first the putto rests his right hand on the animal's head, while with his left he holds a drapery inflated by the wind, in the second the left hand is intent on governing the dolphin through the use of reins, while in his right hand he holds an arrow, a typical attribute of the mythological personification of the god Love. Lacquering and gilding of the carvings resumed later.