Record sale for Giambologna's workshop ostrich: £1.8 million

The unique bronze ostrich made in the workshop of Giambologna (Jean de Boulogne; Douai, 1529 - Florence, 1608), possibly by the master himself in collaboration with Pietro Tacca (Carrara, 1577 - Florence, 1640), another great European artist of the early 17th century, was sold at a record price. The work was sold at auction by Cheffins in Cambridge, UK, this Thursday, April 22, for £1,824,540, including buyers’ premium of 24.5 percent and VAT. The sale also represents Cheffins’ new house record in Cambridge.

The work, which is about 30 centimeters high, also once belonged to the great writer Horace Walpole (who acquired it between 1765 and 1766) and was long stored in his Strawberry Hill residence, from where it emerged in 1842, forty-five years after Walpole’s death. It was thus acquired by John Dunn-Gardner of Suffolk, Earl of Leicester, for the sum of 50 pounds 8 shillings, and has remained in the family collections ever since. Only three specimens of this bronze exist in the world: the other two are kept one in the Louvre and one in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The Louvre specimen is first documented in 1689 and was part of the collections of the French royals (it was later donated to the museum in 1881 by Adolphe Thiers, then president of France), while the Fitzwilliam specimen appeared on the market in 1949 in an auction at Sotheby’s, when it was purchased for £260 by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Boscawen, and after his death in 1958 was given as a bequest to the museum.

“This is a fantastic achievement and indicative of the importance of this Mannerist sculpture and the growing popularity of early 17th-century works,” says Martin Millard, director of Cheffins. “The family had always known they were in possession of a very significant object, but it was after extensive research that we were able to establish the ostrich’s provenance from Horace Walpole’s collection at Strawberry Hill. This exceptional provenance has secured worldwide attention for the piece, with several potential buyers, including individuals and businesses, coming to view the work prior to the sale.”

Record sale for Giambologna's workshop ostrich: £1.8 million

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