Panther
J. & S. Goldschmidt, Frankfurt; from whom purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1911 (as "old bronze sculpture representing a leopard").
Paper label on bottom of base reads: "Bronze leopard. Italian work of the XVI century from J.&S. Goldschmidt."
Female panther or leopard standing with her right paw raised and mouth opened.
This sinewy bronze animal is of a type popular in Europe during the 16th century, in part due to the success of a model of a panther by the Dutch sculptor Willem van Tetrode. The patina suggests it was cast in the late 16th or 17th century. Morgan acquired the bronze in 1911 from the jewelry and antiquities dealer Julius Goldschmidt, who was based in Frankfurt. The invoice lists the object merely as "an old bronze sculpture representing a leopard". No attribution has been ventured in the years since, and no other casts of the animal have been identified, making the origins of this bronze somewhat of a mystery.