Pair of tondi in limestone carved in high relief... Lot 210

Pair of tondi in limestone carved in high relief with green monochrome highlights representing the Angel of St. Matthew and the Eagle of St. John from a Tetramorph. The angel, with curly hair, is depicted in a bust, holding in both hands the Gospel bearing the inscription + CATER / SONISS? / RANDTITUS / H IS L +; he is dressed in a tunic with a square neckline and a cloak resting on his right shoulder with tight, parallel folds; the eagle holds in its claws the open Gospel bearing the inscription +UTISSIT / VSIS SETE / AVOL LO / ASVD RA / UITTV TA +; head and body in profile covered with interlocking feathers; wing feathers and ribbed tail feathers; both plates are bordered by a frieze of circles. Northern Italy, Emilia-Romagna, attributed to the Master of the Months of Ferrara, ca. 1220 /1240 Diameter: 48 cm Base (small lacks on the edge) Consulted by Ludovico V Geymonat, "Il Primo Bagno di Gesù a Traù e Venezia" in Hortus Artium Mediev.., Vol. 20/2, pp. 854-860. These two plaques, in late Romanesque style, must have been part of a Tetramorph surrounding a monumental blessing Christ or a cross on a church tympanum. They can be compared to the cycle of the Months of the Duomo of Ferrara, now kept in the Cathedral Museum, whose anonymous author was given the eponymous name. Similarities can be established between the figures symbolising the work of these Months and the Angel of St. Matthew. The February butcher has the same face with full cheeks and hair in tight curls in a spiral pattern; the folds of his short tunic are also treated in parallel lines (fig.a). Even more characteristic are the folds of the girdled dress and the mantle of the bifroned figure, embodying January (fig.b). The Master of the Month was a disciple of Benedetto Antelami (c.1150 - c.1215), an Italian sculptor and architect who was active at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries in