March’s Item of the Month is a large patinated electrotype bronze bust of Juno Ludovisi, England, circa 1870, after the Antique, attributed to Elkington & Co., finely cast and with a good patina.
The Juno Ludovisi is a colossal Roman marble head of the 1st century, in the collection of the Palazzo Altemps, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome. A rare subject for this type and quality of production.
The electrotype process, dominated by Elkington & Co. from circa 1850, was a way of casting pure metal by electrolysis. The firm exhibited King of Gwent at The Great Exhibition of 1851 as a demonstration of the technique, and successfully competed for the contract for most of the 18th century statues for the chamber of the new House of Lords in the 1850s. The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a range of electrotypes from the firm between 1869 and 1881.