This is a pleasant little object which only becomes an object of curiosity when you start to think about the information on the wall label.
Desiderio da Settignano was a Florentine sculptor active in the mid-15th century. The date now assigned for the creation of this pleasant little object is in the mid-19th century.
That is the part I didn't notice when I took the photos. What I was admiring was an acknowledged fake that the National Gallery has decided to continue displaying alongside genuine Renaissance artifacts. The online catalog rather tersely explains what happened –
Provenance
Acquired 1865 in Florence by Charles Timbal [1821-1880], Paris;[1] purchased 1870 by Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris;[2] his estate; purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[3] gift 1937 to NGA.
I've read elsewhere about Duveen Brothers selling fakes alongside authentic works to rich American collectors back in the boom days of industrial capitalism. Over 700 pieces in the National Gallery alone (again, according to the Gallery's online catalog) passed through the hands of that firm. But I have never before seen a forger identified on a museum's walls as an "imitator."