Deer Sculpture Reset

In the early 20th century, the Fonderia Chiurazzi (Chiurazzi Foundry) cast two male deer bronze sculptures from an original Roman marble statue known as the Male Deer of Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. The statue is believed to be a copy of a Hellenistic bronze original, which was found in the 18th century at the Villa de Papyri in Herculaneum and dates to the 1st century CE. The marble statue is held by the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy. The Fonderia Chiurazzi male deer statues were originally purchased by John Ringling for his collection, which was housed in the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. Today, the statues are situated on either side of the East Courtyard center pathway; one on the north side and the other directly across on the south side.

EverGreene returned to the Ringling Museum of Art to stabilize both sculptures. The original bronze pegs, which mounted the deer to the stone base, had corroded, causing the sculptures to come loose. As a result, the deer had begun to lean and, if left untreated, were in danger of toppling over. Our team removed the original corroded pegs from the statues, tapped new holes, and inserted new stainless steel pegs. New holes were also tapped into the stone base to line up with the new pegs. Spacers were inserted between the statue and the base to allow for water to flow under the statue and prevent future corrosion of the bronze.