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branch of art: Italian Bronzes. This collection was formed several decades ago and comprises about forty object. The entire interest of this collection seems to be concentrate solely on statuettes and not, as is usually the case, on bronze implements and plastic reliefs. Several carefully selected pieces proclaim the development of this art which in the earlier Italian epoch held more or less the same positions as porcelain in German Rococo. Here we find several unique objects, all duly signed, and the entire unit forms a transition from Riccio over Giovanni da Bologna and Vittoria to Bernini's Baroque, the latter being represent in an exceptional and most interesting manner by the group of the figures for the fountain on the Plazza Navona at Rome.
[[indent]] The entire unit of these bronzes forms a fitting transition to the rich stock of objects of art, among them the Porcelain in leading position. It is the most precious category of early Meissen art, the Ormolu Mountings which are found here in almost perfect examples. These combined the highest quality of the arts of the ciseleur and the porcelain modeller. The harmony and the counter-effect of the shimmering gold and the shining matter, the pure white and the bright colours of the porcelain, the graceful lines of the work by the French ciseleur and the more baroque ideas of the German sculptor produce a magic effect. It seems like a stream of overflowing fulness of life, of festive pomp and the invention itself is in all of its audacity always full of esprit. In their incomparable juxtaposition these works seem like a scale of art starting with the massive and broad effect of