Attributed to Giovanni Battista Pozzi (Pozzo) (c. 1670-1752) Profiles of Emperors Set of forty-four carved ivory reliefs Presented in a George III period mahogany cabinet Dimensions (relief): 4.7 × 3.7 cm (1 ¾ × 1 ½ in.) Dimensions (case) : 21 × 19.5 × 12.5 cm (8 ¼ × 7 ¾ × 5 in.) Comparative bibliography: A. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, Studio Oliveriana, Volume XIII, 1993 (mentioned as Giovanni Battista Pozzi). Tardy, Les Ivoires, Paris, p. 270. C. Theuerkauff, Die Bildwerke in Elfenbein des 16.-19. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1986, pp. 241-248. A set of forty-four carved ivory profile reliefs of Emperors, attributed to Giovanni Battista Pozzi (c. 1670-1752), within a George III mahogany display case Authorised for sale in the European Union. Autorisation to sell within the EU. *Information for buyers: If you are leaving the EU, you may need to obtain a CITES re-export certificate, which is the responsibility of the future buyer. *Information to the buyers : For an exit from the EU, a CITES re-export certificate will be necessary, at the buyer's expense. From the 18th century onwards, the fashion for Grand Tours spread, particularly in Great Britain. Young British noblemen criss-crossed Europe, visiting major capitals, art collections and ancient ruins. They soon became known as "tourists". Giovanni Battista Pozzo specialised in producing intaglios and reliefs with classical themes for the great tourists who visited Rome and Naples. He signed his works Gio. Pozzo, and is better known as Pozzi. His two sons helped him in his business: Roque Pozzo was an engraver known for producing compositions from which his father and brother worked, and Andrea Pozzo later had his own very successful workshop in the Buen Retiro palace in Madrid during the reign of King Carlos III. In 1743, Horace Walpole commissioned William Kent to produce a cabinet to house a collection of classically-themed miniature ivories that he had purchased from Pozzo during his Grand Tour. Walpole was obviously very proud of his cabinet (now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (W.52:1, 2-1925) which, like the German Wunderkammers, was a testament to his wealth, worldliness and good taste. Another set of ivory intaglios by Pozzo was bought by Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle, during his two Grand Tours and is still at Castle Howard. The Museo Oliveriano in Pesaro also has many examples of Pozzo's work. The present collection of forty-four ivories has been attributed to Pozzo on the basis of their similarity to known works in these collections. The extremely fine features of the faces, which detail the individual characteristics of each of the emperors, the unusual undercut of the neck, which undulates back and forth, and the incised text with the name of each figure in Latin, are typical of Pozzo's work. A collection of this size and quality is exceptionally rare. A set of five ivory reliefs with a classical theme attributed to Giovanni Battista Pozzi (Pozzo) was sold by Sotheby's London on 8 July 2011, lot 110 (£15,000).