A $400 Garden Ornament Turns Out to Be a 300-Year-Old Treasure
Imagine buying an old garden decoration for a few hundred dollars, only to discover that it is a rare work of art nearly 300 years old! That is what happened in England, where a marble sculpture of a pope was discovered in a salvage yard.
The 27-inch-tall sculpture was created by Pietro Bracci, a famous Italian artist who helped create the sculptures associated with Rome’s beautiful Trevi Fountain. Experts believe he made the small marble figure in the 1730s.
But this was no ordinary garden statue. It was a model Bracci created to show what a much larger bronze sculpture of Pope Clement XII might look like. The Roman Senate had ordered the larger statue to honor the pope for donating his collection of art to the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
The full-sized bronze statue was eventually melted down for scrap metal about 60 years later. Amazingly, the smaller marble model survived.
Somehow, the sculpture made its way to an English country estate. Over time, its importance was forgotten, and it was placed outdoors as a garden ornament. For generations, people may have walked past it without realizing its true value.
Then came an unexpected discovery. A builder visiting a salvage yard in Wiltshire, England, noticed the sculpture among hundreds of discarded building materials and architectural pieces. He recognized that it might be something special and decided to investigate.
The sculpture was purchased for just 300 British pounds, or about $400. Experts later estimated that it could sell at auction for between $6,600 and $13,300 because of its rarity, age, and the artist’s signature.
Auction specialist Mark Yuan Richards called the discovery exciting. He explained that the sculpture provides a rare connection to the world of eighteenth-century Rome, when popes, wealthy families, and governments supported great artists.
This discovery reminds us that valuable pieces of history can turn up in the most unexpected places. An object that looks ordinary today may have a remarkable story behind it.
It also raises an interesting question: How many important works of art and historical treasures might still be hiding in attics, barns, gardens, or salvage yards, waiting for someone with a sharp eye to discover them?