Probably Italian, 17th Century

Nicolas Landau and Jacquelin Goldman;

Their sale, Paris, Sotheby's, 8 April 2013, lot 15;

Where acquired by the present collector.

The present gilt-bronze dragon was most likely produced as an ornamental mount for a piece of sumptuous furniture or as an element of a larger bronze sculpture or object.

The present example, with its dynamic silhouette and detailed chasing, may well have adorned the base of a cartel clock. A closely related dragon is shown supporting such a timepiece in a drawing dating to the 1720s.¹

¹ "La Chimère, symbole de la somptuosité", Connaissance des Arts, janvier 1961, n°107, p. 31.