CIRCA LATE 6TH CENTURY B.C.

The two lions presented here closely resemble four similar examples that once adorned the rim of a focolare formerly in the collection of Dr. Jacob Hirsch (1874-1955), New York and Munich (see pl. XXXVII, b in W. Llewellyn Brown, The Etruscan Lion). A single lion from the same focolare, formerly in the Alsdorf Collection, was later sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 5 June 2008, lot 34, suggesting that all may have subsequently been separated from the brasier, and that the two Recanati examples may also once have adorned the same Hirsch focolare.