Sculpture, Carvings & Other
Browse our stock of antique sculpture and carvings including a wide range of busts, stone sculpture, plaques and key stones in a range of materials like stone, wood, cast iron and terracotta.
-
Sold
Stock: 14286
A pair of fine marble resin relief plaques, in ornate carved giltwood frames, after the Flemish sculptor Francois Duquesnoy, (1594 to 1644). Copies of the originals made in Paris in the late 19th century. Each depicts Neoclassical scenes of nymphs and cloud-borne putti. One of the figures is probably that of Venus rising from the sea. Each is signed Francois Duquesnoy Paris 1892. The reverse of each bears a bronze medallion with the words Virges Acquirit Eundo ( which roughly translates as We gather strength as we go) and Lutet Parisi M.D. CC.XVIL. In good condition.
French, dated 1892
Notes: Medallion - A depiction of Fame, flying towards a rising sun, sounding one of her trumpets, to which is attached a banner and in her other hand she holds another trumpet.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
|
|
11"
28 cms |
22 3⁄8"
57 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12185
A pair of very large corbelled European Pine brackets or jambs carved in the Baroque manner with elaborately acanthus detail and each terminating in differing Green Man Masks. Possibly once part of a large fireplace. French, circa 1910.
Link to: Antique Baroque Chimneypieces inc English, Italian, French, Flemish Bolection fireplace mantels.
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
8 1⁄4"
21 cms |
60"
152.5 cms |
16 1⁄8"
41 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 15224
A striking pair of large ornamental obelisks carved from an exceptional example of softly hued honey and light grey Purbeck Fossil Stone imbued with an abundance of marine fossils including bones, shells, microbes and bivalves and with imprints of early reptiles and animals.
English, circa 1910.
Notes: Purbeck Stone, famous worldwide for the amazing plethora and myriad example of fossils, was laid down during the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous periods. The name is derived from the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset where outcrops are most prevalent. It is also found in other parts of southern England most notably along the Jurassic Coast, in Dorset, in the strata exposed in the cliffs and on the beaches west of Swanage.
Link to: antique wall tapestries, panels and paintings
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
6 11⁄16"
17 cms |
30 1⁄4"
77 cms |
6 5⁄8"
16.7 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 14978
A Statuary Marble Regency chimneypiece tablet depicting the Greek youth Ganymede offering a drink from his cup to Zeus who is in the form of an eagle. In Greek mythology Zeus, in the guise of an eagle, abducted the beautiful Ganymede from his home in Troy and flew him back to Mount Olympus to serve as a cup bearer to the Gods. Zeus bestowed on him the gift of eternal youth and immortality. English, circa 1810.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
14 3⁄8"
36.5 cms |
7 1⁄8"
18 cms |
2 3⁄8"
6 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 14987
A charming and finely carved Art Nouveau alabaster bust of a woman with demurely downcast cast eyes. Her casually elegant hairstyle adorned by an entwined leaf wreath and she is raised on a rouge and grey marble base. English or possibly Italian, late 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
13 3⁄8"
34 cms |
23 5⁄8"
60 cms |
8 11⁄16"
22 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 14442
An antique Italian carved Alabaster figure of a young bather standing on a rusticated base of rocks, lapped by waves, and resting on a circular moulded plinth. Some minor scuffs and scratches.
Italian, late 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
|
|
|
24 3⁄8"
62 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 14431
A rather beautiful Art Deco Statuary Marble figure of a scantily dressed young lady wearing a bejewelled costume and headdress and seated upon an alabaster plinth which has a patinated brass Phoenician Sphinx mounted to the front. The Portoro Marble base bears the inscription L. Morelli, Florence. Italian, circa 1920.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
overall height |
depth |
|
14 3⁄16"
36 cms |
24"
61 cms |
9 1⁄8"
23 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 14252
An antique French bronze figure of a young man with a seed pouch hung from an ornate belt at his waist who would originally have been holding aloft a sprig of wheat now sadly missing. He is standing astride sheaves of wheat, a cog ,a mallet and tools. The title " Per Laborem, Gloire et Fortune ", which loosely translates as Glory and Fortune from the Fruits of Labour, is inscribed on the base together with the name E. Picault who was French sculptor (1833 – 1915) best known for works depicting allegorical and patriotic subjects, and mythological heroes, and a small round stamp with the words " Vrai Bronze, BL , Garanti, Paris". French, late 19th, early 20th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
7 1⁄2"
19 cms |
24"
61 cms |
9 1⁄8"
23 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 13872
A 19th century patinated bronze of Leonardo da Vinci, the 15th century Italian Renaissance inventor, painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, musician, mathematician, astronomer and so on - a polymath of his time. He is depicted seated on a stool studying a collection of sea creatures, a crab, an eel, a lobster and fish, displayed on a platter held in his hand. Italian, possibly French, late 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
9 3⁄8"
24 cms |
14 3⁄16"
36 cms |
8 1⁄4"
21 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 14383
An antique carved beech wood plaque depicting the Coat of Arms of the City of Manchester which was granted to the City in 1842. The City's motto is inscribed on the plaque and reads "Concilio et Labore" which loosely translated means "Wisdom and Effort".
The Coat of Arms depicts the Heraldic Antelope with its chain, a symbol of peace and harmony, extreme courage and discipline also representing the engineering industries; and the Heraldic Lion a symbol of bravery and strength, his crown, a castle is a reference to the ancient Roman fort of Castlefield. Each wears the Red Rose of Lancaster on their shoulders. They flank a central cabuchon depicting a ship representing the trading relationships of Manchester, and a globe covered in bees which in heraldic terms is a symbol of efficient industry. To this day the bee is often used as a shorthand emblem of Manchester.
English, late 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
|
|
28 11⁄16"
73 cms |
11 1⁄4"
28.8 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12333
A pair of small very well carved onyx lions passant very much in the Medeci tradition. Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony of which agate is the most popular type.
Possibly Italian early to mid twentieth century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Length |
|
9 13⁄16"
25 cms |
18 7⁄8"
48 cms |
28 1⁄4"
72 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 13742
A grand and finely modelled life size bronze figure of a prowling tiger.
Powerful and Regal.
Probably 20th Century Japanese.
Weight: 90kg
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
length |
height |
|
|
77 3⁄16"
196 cms |
26 5⁄8"
67.5 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12724
A beautifully carved alabaster group in the manner of Cesare Lapini (1848 - 1890) an Italian sculptor mainly active in 19th century Florence. A maiden, representing Flora the Roman Goddess of Flowers has a child playing at her feet and both are wearing garlands of roses and clasping flowers.
Italian School 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
10 5⁄8"
27 cms |
32 11⁄16"
83 cms |
9 13⁄16"
25 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 13391
A very fine life size marble bust, mounted on a composition coadestone base, of a Greek/Roman philosopher, most probably Plato or perhaps Socrates. Originally from a property in County Durham.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
11 13⁄16"
30 cms |
24"
61 cms |
9 3⁄8"
24 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 13526
A rare Bronze Fountain Group attributed to David Rawnsley (1909- 1977).
Sculptor, Painter, Ceramicist, Film Art Director & Production Designer.
A delightful, unique and beautifully sculpted Fountain of an entwined Mermaid & Merboy resting on rocks by the sea, both are twin tailed. The Merboy holds a large fish from whose mouth a water spout falls into the clam shell beneath. There is another water spout emanating from the abalone shell held above his head. The Mermaid is holding the clam shell in which lies a large starfish. A crab, a lobster and an octopus are climbing the rock beneath and nearby are limpets and coral.
Mermaids & Merboys are legendary figures appearing throughout the centuries in the folklore of many cultures and traditionally could symbolise either danger or good fortune. This pair are of course beneficent. English, circa 1960.
Notes: David Rawnsley was in his own words 'a jack of all trades'. Initially trained as an architect and engineer he entered the film industry in his early twenties as an art director & production designer. Film credits include: 49th Parallel, One of Our Aircraft is Missing, They Flew Alone and In Which We Serve. In the 40's and 50's he started up a series of potteries. The first in Paris was followed by the famous Chelsea Pottery in London in 1952 and later by one in the Bahamas and another in Mexico. His sister Una Hanbury (1904 – 1990) was a renowned Washington sculptor of horses and Rawnsley himself became an acknowledged artist and sculptor. His parents had settled the Rawnsley family on the Isle of Capri in the 1920's and in later years he set up a studio there. During a short visit in 1977 he died of a heart attack and he is buried on the Island. One of his last bronze sculptures, that of a young maiden made in 1972, is mounted on his grave.
Link to: Antique, old vintage fountains, sculptures, garden furniture and statuary
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
28"
71 cms |
69 1⁄2"
176.5 cms |
25 5⁄8"
65 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11480
A well carved white Statuary marble maiden musician seated on a rock dressed in simple 18th century garb playing a guitar with her attentive, adoring tousle-haired dog lying beside her.
French / Italian, 19th century.
NOTES : The Latin guitar developed from the Cithara and the Oud. The Moorish Oud retained the rounded back, multiple sound holes and wide fingerboard of the oud. The Latin guitar, on the other hand, had a more narrow neck, a flat back and one sound hole. Despite having only four strings, the Latin guitar of the 11th century is clearly the predecessor of the modern guitar, which preceded the Mandolin,developed later in Italy
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
33 1⁄8"
84 cms |
40 3⁄16"
102 cms |
22"
56 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11022
A large antique terracotta campana urn, possibly by Blashfield, decorated in the Greek Revival manner after Bertel Thorvaldsen and Thomas Hope. Frieze features under the anthemion motif beneath the rim show various figures of flower and fruit maidens, minstrels and an angel typical of Ancient Greek inspiration, the handles are butted by the heads of river deities. English, early 19th century.
Notes: Although not stamped the texture of the clay & the design is very similar to the work produced by J M Blashfield." There was an identical urn sold at a Sotheby's Sale on 21 Sept 1999.
Weight: 110 kg.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Diameter |
Height |
Base W & H |
|
30 1⁄4"
77 cms |
41 1⁄4"
105 cms |
15 3⁄16"
38.5 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12789
A carved marble Victorian figure of a girl of a girl with hand raised and head lowered leaning on a tree stump, on a circular base and associated eight sided plinth. English, 19th century
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
11"
28 cms |
39 13⁄16"
101 cms |
11"
28 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12831
A 17th century Italian near life size white statuary marble sculpture head and wings of an angel carved in the Baroque manner of BERNINI, the 17th century Italian Sculptor, with the initials CB on the back of a wing. Italian, 17th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
deoth |
|
13 5⁄8"
34.5 cms |
14 3⁄16"
36 cms |
7 7⁄8"
20 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12809
British Coat of Arms of the Royal Family in painted aluminium.English, circa 1920.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
23 3⁄16"
59 cms |
31 1⁄8"
79 cms |
3 1⁄2"
9 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11498
A well sculpted antique statuary marble bust in the manner of a Roman Senator.
Probably Italian, 19th century.
Reminiscent of the Bust of Cicero, by Peter Scheemakers, 1743 (Long Room, Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland).
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
13 3⁄8"
34 cms |
17 1⁄2"
44.5 cms |
9 13⁄16"
25 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12679
An antique large Victorian bronze figure of a Knight Crusader.
Mid 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
| External |
11 3⁄8"
29 cms |
19 1⁄4"
49 cms |
6 1⁄4"
16 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 10992
A finely carved Italian pair of walnut caryatids in the Baroque manner showing a boy and a girl symbolising Summer and Autumn, the girl with a garland of flowers symbolising Spring, the boy with vine leaves and grapes entwined with bullrushes symbolising Autumn harvest. Italian, 19th century.
Link to: decorative antiques and furnishings
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
3 7⁄8"
10 cms |
25 5⁄8"
65 cms |
4 1⁄4"
11 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 12632
An impressive richly carved Arts and Crafts oak eagle lectern standing on an ornately carved pedestal in the Neo Gothic manner. English, mid 19th century.
Link to: decorative antiques and furnishings
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
28 1⁄4"
72 cms |
62 3⁄16"
158 cms |
22 13⁄16"
58 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 7605
A pair of unusual Art Deco terracotta stylised eagle wall lights in the manner of Salvador Dali.
Italian or Spanish, circa 1930.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
| left figure |
14"
35.6 cms |
19 1⁄2"
49.5 cms |
9 13⁄16"
24.8 cms |
| right figure |
13"
33 cms |
18"
45.7 cms |
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11742
A pair of life size busts in the Italian Renaissance manner of a nobleman and his lady in white terracotta stoneware. Images before restoration and cleaning.
English, 19th Century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
height |
depth |
|
16 1⁄8"
41 cms |
29 1⁄8"
74 cms |
15"
38 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11846
A very fine pair of intricately carved oak high ranking, perhaps Royal, robed and fearsome medieval warrior figures, helmeted, heavily armed, armoured & crowned, possibly crusaders, each wearing monogramed armour, one with a fleur-de-lys on his breastplate, the other a roaring lion & each carring a shield, a sword and baton.English, 19th century. Shown with pair of wall socles, SNo 9612 also 19th century.
Link to: decorative antiques and furnishings
|
width |
height |
depth |
| Figure 1 |
13 13⁄16"
35 cms |
33 1⁄2"
85 cms |
11 3⁄8"
29 cms |
| Figure 2 |
15 3⁄8"
39 cms |
12 3⁄8"
31.5 cms |
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11921
" THE ASCENT OF MAN "...A monumental elaborately carved stele representing creatures trhough the evolution of the earth's species. In ivory toned English alabaster, built in five sections and profusely carved in high and low relief depicting quite accurately primeval vegetation, sea-dwelling life forms, ammonites & nautilus. Further images showing extinct vertebrates, marine reptiles & shoals of fish. Main features being A Woolly Mammoth..originating in the Pliocene epoch 4.8 million years ago... a Pterodactyl...65 million years ago and so on... a giant Toad & Iguanadons. The tapering circular shaft with carved acanthus leaves said to represent the intervening evolutionary stages to the present represented by the upper section carved with three figural groups of man and woman standing on the capital of the column, supporting a crown. Designer : Phillp C Thicknesse, late 19th century who also designed the designed the zoology building at Liverpool University. English, Circa 1880.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
|
height approx |
|
|
|
115"
292 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 11767
A LARGE CAST IRON FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT MUSE in the Greek manner, sitting on a foliate chased rock, signed Chatrousse, Émile François Chatrousse, French sculptor (1829-1896). Many of his works, including Joan of Arc, are displayed in Parisian Public institutions such as The Tuilleries and the Hotel de Ville.
WEIGHT: 285kg
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
height |
Depth |
| Max. External Base. |
36 5⁄8"
93 cms |
52"
132 cms |
34 1⁄4"
87 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 9320
A Fine pair of high relief carved walnut plaques depicting an officer of the Light Cavalry of the Kings Own Hussars, a British 19th century regiment ...and a Bugler of the same regiment. Both are mounted on chargers, the officer with regimental symbols on the saddle cloth. England 19th century.
TENNYSON : " Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward.........
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
12"
30.5 cms |
18 1⁄8"
45.9 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 9036
A Pre Raphaelite marble statuette of Shakespeare's tragic heroine Ophelia, lover of Hamlet. This interpretation somewhat reminiscent of the painting by Arthur Hughes in 1863. Her hands are full of dripping river weeds symbolising her death by drowning after she had been driven mad with grief at the discovery that her father had been mistakenly murdered by Hamlet.
"OPHELIA" is carved into the rectangular base.
English, circa 1890. ( photo before restoration ).
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
9 1⁄8"
23 cms |
29 1⁄2"
75 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 10664
A stoneware figure of a Crowned Sentinel Lion in the Baroque manner, seated holding a shield bearing the Royal Coat of Arms to his chest, on a cylindrical base.English,19th Century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
depth |
|
15"
38 cms |
41 1⁄4"
105 cms |
18 1⁄2"
47 cms |
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 10762
A pair of heavy cast bronze Eagles purportedly from a Midlands branch of Barclays Bank. English,1930's.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
width |
height |
|
|
17 11⁄16"
45 cms |
20 1⁄2"
52 cms |
|
|
|
|
|
-
Sold
Stock: 10068
An Italian mid to late 19th Century marble figure
of a child holding a nest of fledgling Sparrows, signed R Galli, Milano.
A sculptor Galli was at the Milan Academy of Art in the 1840s.
Image before restoration, cleaning and polishing. Italian, late 19th century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
-
Sold
Stock: 8353
A walnut bracket carved in high relief in the Renaissance manner with three female deities supporting a semicircular plinth carved with Greek Key design. 19th, century.
Link to: Antique sculptures, carvings, bronzes, plaques and tablets
|
Width |
Height |
Depth |
|
9 1⁄2"
24.2 cms |
13"
33 cms |
6 1⁄4"
16 cms |
|
|
|
|
Antique sculptures
Antique sculptures conjure the vision of ancient civilisations, the classical marble statues of Ancient Greece and Rome - harmonious and idealised - but they are varied in both their materials and their styles.
Antique bronze sculptures
Many ancient statues were copied by sculptors in the 18th century to sell as souvenirs for Grand Tourists. Antique bronze sculptures were popular, which may have been inspired by Greek sculptures that were cast in bronze and only later copied by the Romans in marble. Antique sculptures of this period were predominantly figurative and often represented these classical subjects.
Antique bronze sculptures also enjoyed a great revival in the Renaissance period, in Italy and France especially, the most renowned sculptor of this period being Cellini. His remarkable figurative work inspired many later sculptors to move away from classical poses and create works that were more flamboyant and dynamic. Antique bronze sculptures come in a range of sizes, so suit a variety of positions, whether a small occasional table, a plinth or a mantelpiece.
Antique marble statues
Marble statues enjoyed popularity from antiquity to the present day, from their beginnings as polychromed statues of the deities, they evolved to embody the elegance of many ages, immortalising Kings and Queens, Gods and Goddesses. The beauty of antique marble sculptures is often the way the marble has been selected to represent the form, where the veins of the stone are utilised to emphasise the curves of a body or a natural form. Marble also absorbs light, giving the statue an almost lifelike glow in a way that stone statues of the same subject can’t.
Antique wood carvings
In Europe, antique wood carvings were most commonly found in ecclesiastic settings during the medieval period, but eventually became desirable in private homes. Antique oak carvings from the Victorian period were often inspired by these medieval, 16th and 17th century carvings, and decorative adornments were added over doorways, on ceilings, staircases and wall brackets. Antique wood carvings and sculpture were sometimes polychromed, or painted, to give the carving a lifelike quality.
If you are looking for antique sculptures, London is without doubt a great place to look. From the inspiration of our great galleries and museums, to our showroom, the Capital offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of sculpture and carving.