Rare Vintage Lion After Canova on “Eminent Divines” Books

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Now this is a conversation piece! A wonderfully unusual vintage (probably antique) American decorative sculpture featuring a reclining cast-metal lion … Read more Now this is a conversation piece! A wonderfully unusual vintage (probably antique) American decorative sculpture featuring a reclining cast-metal lion after Antonio Canova, mounted atop two richly detailed faux antique books. Quite rare: after extensive research, Ms. H. has yet to find another example!

The lion is modeled after the celebrated recumbent lions created by Italian Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova for the Monument to Pope Clement XIII in St. Peter’s Basilica. Beautifully crafted from mane to paws, this version has an aged bronze-gold finish with dark patination in the recesses and an integral plinth marked “MADE IN U.S.A.”

Part Neoclassical sculpture, part literary curiosity and part American decorative art, this is precisely the sort of object that rewards a second—and third—look. A fabulous gift or addition to a library, study, bookshelf or collected interior.

BUT the books may be the most intriguing part.

The substantial base is molded from a dense brown composition material and finished to resemble two lavishly decorated antique volumes, complete with modeled page edges, gilt accents and elaborate relief decoration. Close inspection reveals a remarkable assortment of religious imagery, including a Holy Bible, Koran, menorah and Hindu figure among scrolling foliage and additional symbolic motifs.

Even more fascinating, portions of the title and names molded into the upper book remain visible beneath and around the lion. They identify the volume as Lives and Labors of Eminent Divines, the 1895 work by Rev. Elias Nason and J. Frank Beale Jr. about Charles H. Parkhurst, Dwight Lyman Moody, Ira David Sankey, Philip P. Bliss and Eben Tourjée. The lion is mounted over part of the molded title, but portions of “LIVES AND LABORS,” “EMINENT DIVINES” and several of the names—including the wonderfully distinctive TOURJÉE—remain visible.

The elaborate book was fully created and decorated before the metal lion was mounted over its upper cover, leaving portions of the book’s title and decoration tantalizingly concealed beneath the sculpture. See less