Lot 69: Giovanni Bernardi de Castelbolognese (1496-1553) The Resurrection, rectangular bronze-gilt plaquette, 107mm.x 82mm., grey-brown pati...

Giovanni Bernardi de Castelbolognese (1496-1553)
The Resurrection, rectangular bronze-gilt plaquette, 107mm.x 82mm., grey-brown patina with traces of gilding, pierced in top corners

Christ, raising his right hand and holding a banner in his left, stands on the tomb. Four sleeping soldiers lie slumped to left and below. The shield of the nearest soldier is inscribed S.P.Q.R. To right another two soldiers stand watching.

A larger and finer silver-gilt version of this plaquette is mounted in a pax in the Victoria and Albert Museum (cat. P.77). There is a similar rock crystal by Bernardi, engraved for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, in Copenhagen (Kris 261) of which a bronze plaquette is known (Bange 1922, 862; Maclagan p. 69).