Elia Sala - Turkey

bronze, cm 25 x 14 x 23

Signed on the base: "E. Sala"
Provenance: Milan, private collection
Exhibition: Milan, Galleria Pesaro, 1919, no. 139
Bibliography: Third Exhibition of the Lombard Art Federation, Milan, Galleria Pesaro, 1919, p. 11, no. 139

Elia Sala's Turkey is certainly a tribute to the same specimen carved by Giambologna in the late 16th century, when it was still considered an exotic animal from the New World. It shares the same abundant plumage on the chest and back, as well as the static pose, at once regal and bizarre. In other decorative pieces, too, Sala is wont to include animalier sculptures, as in the case of the clock with the Titans, holding up the Earth surmounted by the chariot of the Sun driven by imperious horses in the race, "a work of decorative art that does honor to the author".