A large good quality late 19th Century bronze sculpture of the ''Diana of Gabii'' also know as ''Diane de Gabies''. Natural bronze with traces of silver gilt and exposed copper rod infils indicates that this was once a large prestigious completely silver gilt statue. Stamped to the base ''Réduction Méchanique A Collas''. Achille Collas was the inventor of a machine that would mechanically reduce statues (Collas method) and with Ferdinand Barbedienne started the Société Collas et Barbedienne foundry in Paris in 1838 renowned for its high quality castings. The orignal was discovered in 1792 on the property of the Prince Borghese at Gabii, not far from Rome. Attributed to Praxiteles, it was sold to Napoleon in 1807 and now can be seen in the Louvre in Paris. French, circa 1880. Based in London, we are dealers in fine decorative antiques from the 18th and 19th centuries. We specialise in this era of enlightenment, neoclassicism and the Grand Tour, with its far reaching influence on...