Pair of bronzes centaurs, Italy first half 18th century

Pair of patinated bronze centaurs, early 18th-century Roman work known as FURIETTI centaurs, young and old centaurs based on ancient models, on onyx and fine black marble bases.
The FURIETTI centaurs represent a mature, bearded, elderly centaur with a sad expression and a young, smiling centaur with his arm raised. The original statues were found at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli by archaeologist Giuseppe Alessandro FURIETTI in 1736; they bear the signatures of Aristeas and Papias of Aphrodisias, a city in Asia Minor, and judging by their style, these examples date from the Hadrianic era towards the end of the 1st century or the beginning of the 2nd century AD.