Aglaia Antiques

15/07/2026

😅😅 What would you add?

30/06/2026

30/06/2026

WORKSHOP OF ANDREA DELLA ROBBIA
ITALIAN, FLORENCE, CIRCA 1500

Architrave with a cherub incised: R to the underside glazed polychromed terracotta

51 by 25 by 19cm., 20 by 9/ by 7½in.

PROVENANCE
Private collection, England, early 20th century;
Thence by descent until acquired by the present owner

Attributed to the workshop of Andrea Della Robbia, this glazed terracotta architrave exemplifies the charm and character that distinguished the celebrated Florentine atelier during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

The present relief would have formed part of a continuous frame, typical of the composition of many later altarpieces from the workshop of Andrea Della Robbia. A relief of the Assumption of the Virgin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 82.4) features a similar band of cherub faces.

Another altarpiece of this type with a Madonna
and Child is at The Hermitage, St Petersburg, the cherubs framed with an almost identical white bead-and-button moulding.

The closest comparison though are four almost identical architrave sections in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (in. no. 7417-1860). The examples at the Victoria and Albert Museum also feature six-winged cherub heads in the same more unusual purple and yellow coloured glaze with the cherub faces left unglazed. This was a period in which the Della Robbia workshop produced various altarpieces and other works in partially glazed polychromed terracotta, with unglazed sections (mostly the figures’ flesh tones) originally painted in oil, as these fragments presumably were. The comparable composition, colour, and dimensions of the Victoria and Albert sections suggest that they were most likely from the same original work as the present lot.

Robinson suggested that these pieces, and presumably the present lot, would have formed the ‘crowning arch-band of a large altar-piece” (op. cit., p. 67).

W £ 10,000-15,000



Sotheby's

11/02/2026

Simply put, silver is very good at killing germs.

This made it the ideal material to make crockery, cutlery and drink ware - practical and beautiful 🤍

Silver jug pictured: Early George II Sterling Silver crested sparrowbeak milk/cream jug London 1731

11/02/2026

Simply, silver is very good at killing germs.

This made it the ideal material to make crockery, cutlery and drink ware - practical and beautiful 🤍

Silver jug pictured: Early George II Sterling Silver crested sparrowbeak milk/cream jug London 1731

10/02/2026

08/02/2026

Can we take a minute to talk about repoussé 🤍

A technique whereby a design is created in relief by hammering from the other side. What makes these boxes even more special is that there were created in around 1890 - timeless and practical pieces 🤍

10/01/2026

15 carat gold blister pearl and enamel parrot brooch circa 1920 by Hunt & Roskell Ltd

10/01/2026

Edwardian sterling silver mounted ‘At Home’ notebook ⭐️ 1901 ⭐️

What secrets were kept in these pages? ♥️

EDWARDIAN STERLING SILVER MOUNTED “AT HOME” NOTEBOOK Birmingham 1901

10/01/2026

Fine Jerome Massier viola flower cornucopia vase circa 1890 ♥️