The central scene depicts the Hesiodic Cyclopes - the brothers Arges, Brontes and Steropes - forging the thunderbolt of Zeus, and is flanked on the left by a view of Mount Etna with Catania cathedral and with the Cyclopean Isles to the right. The whole (set into a later oak table) measures 2ft 9in x 2ft 1in (85 x 63cm).
Relatively little is known about Cali although, active in Naples in the second half of the 19th century, he pioneered the use of lavic stone in his compositions. A series of signed examples by this maker are in the Museum of San Martino, Villa Rosebery and the Royal Palace in Naples.
A marble and pietre dure panel signed by Cali with a scene of the eruption of Etna and the port of Catania with a similar border sold at Sotheby’s in April 2010 for £15,000.
Given its setting, it was not possible to ascertain if this panel offered by Roseberys London (26% buyer’s premium) was signed.However, estimated at £6000-10,000 on September 27, it raced away to bring £18,000.
It had been in a UK private collection for more than a century.
