North Italian Baroque Carved Boxwood Plaque Attributed to Andrea Brustolon

Period: 1600-1700

Origin: Italy

Medium: Boxwood

Literature: Andrea Brustolon is known for his baroque carvings in walnut, boxwood and ebony, especially for his extravagant and elaborately constructed figurative furniture. A set of twelve chairs profusely decorated with flowers, fruit and foliage symbolising the twelve months of the year can be found in the Palazzo Quirinale in Venice.
Always identified by his familiar bow and arrows, Cupid in antiquity was thought of as a beautiful, but wanton boy with a quiver full of ‘arrowed desires’. Depicted confidently riding upon a lion that he is leading with a loose rein, the scene is an allegory for ‘love tames all’.