Premier Items

A collection of antique items of extraordinary quality, concept and style.

  • Stock: 16687

    A rare 17th century crewelwork wall hanging of superb quality. This panel is meticulously hand embroidered in worsted 'crewl' wool with the 'tree of life' decoration, which was enormously popular in this period.

    This hanging still has its original backing, which has been professionally conserved, lined, and fitted with a hanging rod. It is likely that it once part of a set of bed hangings.

    A brief history of crewel work:

    The Bayeaux Tapestry is the earliest extant example of this embroidery technique, which was at the time of its manufacture - the 11th century - peculiar to Britain. The scene spans over 230 feet in length and was intended to be viewed as a continuous narrative. It is certainly one of the grandest works of embroidery of the medieval period.
    However, it was centuries later that crewelwork gained great popularity in the domestic sphere, popularised by Elizabeth I, who was a great patron of the arts. It was also under her rule that the British East India Company was founded in 1600, and it saw the arrival of colourful palampores and chintzes from India, which hugely influenced the designs for crewelwork, with stylised leaves and exotic flowers being used more frequently after this period.

    In the Jacobean period, this passion for crewelwork of this style was evident in almost every affluent home, where panels were used as bed hangings, curtains and door drapes.

    The popularity for crewelwork endured until the early 19th century, when machine made embroideries emerged.

    Width Height Depth
    59 1316"
    152 cms
    80 14"
    204 cms
    0 38"
    1 cms

    Listed Price: £8,900 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 6613

    An exceptional Louis XV Rococo fireplace in dramatically figured breche violette marble of grand proportions. This is perhaps one of the most magnificent French Rococo chimneypieces we have had in our collection. The moulded serpentine shelf rests on the wide frieze, also of serpentine from, and is boldly carved with a central rocaille motif and panels. This carving is echoed in the endblocks, which are mounted above beautifully bold Rococo jambs.

    French, 19th century.

    View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

    Width Height Depth
    External 79 1116"
    202.5 cms
    51 316"
    130 cms
    15 1116"
    40 cms
    Internal 59 18"
    150 cms
    42 14"
    107.5 cms
  • Stock: 16694

    A fine and large early polychrome Delft covered vase in the Oriental taste. Decorated with panels depicting birds perching within flowering chrysanthemum branches, this vase is topped with the most charming of covers, complete with a cat finial!
    It is rare to have a fine Delft vase of this scale and date.

    Dutch, c.1700, the underside with makers' mark for DE GRIEKSCHE A.

    Photographed before restoration.

    Notes: In 1658, Wouter van Eenhoorn opened his pottery in the former brewery known as the 'De Griex A' (The Greek A) His company was soon supplying an international market with contacts in London, Hamburg, Stockholm and in 1674 Rouen. In 1678, his son took over the business, and the firm started supplying the Royal House of Orange. Successive generations expanded the business, and they supplied the British monarchs William and Mary as well as their wealthy courtiers. At this time, their pottery was signed AK, which we see on this vase. The factory closed in the early 19th century.

    Awaiting further research.

    View our collection of: decorative antiques and furnishings.

    Diameter Height
    11"
    28 cms
    22 1316"
    58 cms

    Listed Price: £3,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16697

    An exceptional giltwood Venetian wall mirror. The fine frame has strapwork cresting, pierced sides and apron, the whole carved with rocaille, c-scrolls and floral flourishes, enclosing the mirror plate, which is surmounted by a fine cartouche also with mirror plate to the crest.

    Venice, c.1780.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    47 58"
    121 cms
    65 38"
    166 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms

    Listed Price: £8,900 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16125

    A rare American giltwood wall mirror by E. F. Caldwell & Co. This finely carved oval mirror embodies the Baroque Revival style, the winged ignudi and other details carved in high relief. This mirror was likely specially commissioned to accompany wall sconces of the same design made by the company, with the addition of three branches.
    Original mirror plate.

    United States, c.1900.

    Notes: See the E. F. Caldwell & Co. Collection, Smithsonian Institution, C012765 to see this model catalogued as three light wall appliques. Edward F. Caldwell & Co. were America’s preeminent lighting manufacturers of the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, illuminating some of the most notable buildings in the United States. In addition to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and the White House in Washington, D.C., the company’s masterful light fixtures also adorn the homes of some historically prominent figures, such as J.P. Morgan and Phillip Lehman.
    The firm was founded in 1895 by American Edward F. Caldwell and Victor F. von Lossberg from Latvia.
    In 1901 Edward F. Caldwell & Co. opened a foundry and quickly rose to the top of the electric light manufacturing business with their shared vision, choosing to deliver quality elegant fixtures that frequently drew on historic European designs. The firm produced magnificent lighting pieces, as well as finely crafted decorative objects and mirrors. Their neoclassical designs borrowed heavily from Baroque and Rococo styles.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    30 14"
    77 cms
    44 78"
    114 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms

    Listed Price: £7,600 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 6622

    A rare fireplace insert by Thomas Jeckyll for Barnard Bishop and Barnard. Epitomising the Aesthetic movement style, the insert is mounted with a cast brass panel decorated with Jeckyll's signature use of Japanese mons, but the most striking decoration is of course the handpainted tiles on a burnt orange ground, decorated with birds of paradise perching on stylised branches. A rare survival of extraordinary beauty.

    English, circa 1870. Notes: Barnard, Bishop and Barnards were at the heart of Norwich's iron industry, and the company gained an international reputation after their collaboration with Thomas Jeckyll. Jeckyll’s associations with a group of London artists – notably James Abbott McNeill Whistler – made him a key figure in the Anglo-Japanese Aesthetic Movement. Jeckyll used japonaise designs for Barnards’ fireplaces while his sunflower motif came to symbolise the Aesthetic Movement.

    View our collection of: Antique Fire grates and Register grates.

    Width Height Depth
    External 38"
    96.5 cms
    38"
    96.5 cms
    8"
    20.3 cms
    Internal 18 38"
    46.7 cms
    28 12"
    72.5 cms
  • Stock: 6619

    An ornately carved Louis XVI , Rococo style fireplace surround in white Carrara Marble, with panelled returns and circular hinged gilt brass ventilation ports.
    French late 19th century.

    View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

    Width Height Depth
    External 59 38"
    151 cms
    41 12"
    105.5 cms
    17 14"
    44 cms
    Internal 45 18"
    114.5 cms
    31 78"
    81 cms

    Listed Price: £9,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 9240

    A grand and impressive Palladian style chimneypiece in finely carved Portland Stone. The wide shelf carved in high relief with an undershelf of repeating acanthus leaf motif, over boldly scaled egg and dart over lambs tongue detail. The main ingrounds carved with continuous guilloche motif. The whole is supported on large, sturdy footblocks.
    Provenance: Removed from a building in the City of London.
    English, late 19th century.

    Link to a section showing full range of similar/related neo-classical chimneypieces

    Width Height Depth
    External 112 1316"
    286.5 cms
    87 58"
    222.5 cms
    17 78"
    45.5 cms
    Internal 65 316"
    165.7 cms
    63 1116"
    161.7 cms
  • Stock: 16505

    A most beautiful Louis XV chimneypiece in a dramatically veined campan mélange marble, in many ways surpassing the beauty of breche violette. The veining of khaki greens and deep violet ripples across the peachy base tone, it really is remarkably unique. The moulded shelf rests over a panelled serpentine frieze which is centred by a boldly carved Rococo shell cartouche. This is echoed on the endblocks which are mounted above the canted console jambs.

    French, mid-19th century.

    Campan marble comes from the high French Pyrenees, where it has been quarried since Antiquity. The area produces a variety of beautiful, richly veined coloured marbles, such as Campan Gran Mélange, Campan Vert, Ribbon Campan and the deep red Rouge Griotte. These were much prized and used in the apartments in Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI for chimney pieces and wall panels. Campan Vert and Campan Gran Mélange are extensively used on the walls of the Escalier de la Reine (the Queen’s stairs) Versailles.

    View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

    Width Height Depth
    External 59 1316"
    152 cms
    46"
    116.8 cms
    15 1116"
    40 cms
    Internal 41 78"
    106.5 cms
    37 1316"
    96 cms

    Listed Price: £11,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16566

    A rare pair of very fine Louis XV marble fireplaces in a beautifully veined breche voilette marble. On each, the serpentine shelf is mounted over the serpentine frieze, beautifully carved with a central acanthine cartouche, which in turns rests on generous console jambs, their side returns fitted with fine brass vents.

    It is extraordinarily rare to have an original pair of fireplaces of such quality.

    French, mid-19th century.

    Provenance: A fine house in Italy.

    Outer footblock to footblock width 61" 155cms

    View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

    Width Height Depth
    External 63 1316"
    162 cms
    44 18"
    112 cms
    17 14"
    44 cms
    Internal 48 78"
    124.3 cms
    36 78"
    93.8 cms
  • Stock: 16544

    A very fine Piedmontese giltwood pier mirror. This beautiful mirror has a wonderfully patinated arched mercury plate, which is enclosed by a slender marginal plate of the same glass. The refined rocaille frame is topped by the most magnificent pierced scrollwork crest, and the whole is raised on sweeping acanthus feet.

    Piedmont, c.1750.

    This mirror would be magnificent over a fireplace, or a console table.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    35 1316"
    91 cms
    71 1116"
    182 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms

    Listed Price: £6,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16556

    A rare pair of large cast iron Handyside urns after the the Medici Vase. These urns were manufactured by the renowned Andrew Handyside & Co Foundry, and as illustrated in the catalogue, are a near pair, with a different subject to the bas-relief friezes. The right is a faithful copy to the original Medici Vase, now on display at the Uffizi in Florence. Both are mounted on their original pedestals.

    English, c.1851.

    Notes: The Handyside Foundry exhibited this model at the Great Exhibition of 1851, as it was, and still remains, one of the most popular subjects from antiquity.

    Having returned from his uncle's engineering business in Russia, the young engineer Andrew Handyside took over the Britannia iron works in Derby in 1848, a foundry that was known for the quality of its casting, owing to the fine sand that could be found in the region. He made a wide range of materials in cast iron, from garden ornaments, to iron buildings and bridges.

    View our collection of: decorative antiques and furnishings

    Width Height Depth
    Urn & Base 23 58"
    60 cms
    54 14"
    138 cms
    23 58"
    60 cms
    Base 19 14"
    49 cms
    24"
    61 cms
  • Stock: 16541

    An exceptionally fine and rare pair of Venetian giltwood mirrors or pier glasses. Mirrors of this type, especially those in an original pair are vanishingly rare. Their gilded giltwood frames take an organic form, the whole carved with rocaille, c-scrolls and floral embellishments, with a mirrored rocaille crest. This Rococo design encloses the more traditional frames that are the signature of the Venetian style, which in turn borders the most magnificently patinated original mercury plates.

    Italian, c.1760.

    Provenance: From a palazzo in Venice.

    Notes: It is likely that this pair of mirrors was made on the island of Murano, known as the 'Isle of Glass'. It has been the centre of fine glassmaking for centuries.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    Each 39 38"
    100 cms
    54 12"
    138.5 cms
    5 78"
    15 cms

    Listed Price: £26,000 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 15840

    A large and rare neoclassical chimneypiece in a soft, honey toned sandstone. Very much in the manner of William Kent, and therefore Palladian in style, this grand chimneypiece bears a thick shelf carved with a bold egg and dart moulding and a delicately carved foliate undershelf. Both rest on a beautifully carved half-barrel frieze, with acanthus paterae carved in a cross-hatch arrangement, centred by a blank tablet. The half pilaster jambs with ionic capitals are carved with bead and reel details and enclose the flat crossette cornered ingrounds, with further egg and dart and leaf and dart mouldings.

    English, mid-20th century.

    Notes: William Kent was the preeminent architect of the early Georgian period and the father of Palladianism. His style was informed both by antiquity and the bold style of the Italian Baroque, which was introduced to him on his tour of Italy. He was the first British architect to consider the interior as part of the whole decorative scheme, and designed furniture and other the small details necessary to complete a room.

    View our collection of: Antique Baroque Chimneypieces inc English, Italian, French, Flemish Bolection fireplace mantels.

    Width Height Depth
    External 75 12"
    191.7 cms
    59 1316"
    152 cms
    12"
    30.5 cms
    Internal 41 14"
    105 cms
    46 316"
    117.3 cms
  • Stock: 16138

    A fine and rare set of Grand Tour plaster intaglios, individually mounted on dark green silk within their original mahogany and crossbanded satinwood case, which is fashioned as a false book. When the spine of the book is removed, the interior is revealed. Traces of marbled paper remain around three sides of the case, imitating the marbled finishes often seen on 18th century books. Some of the Intaglios have the impressed stamp for Nathaniel Marchant, who was the most well regarded gem engraver of the 18th century.
    Sets such as these are very rare.

    View our collection of: decorative antiques and furnishings.

    Width Lenght
    9 1316"
    25 cms
    15 38"
    39 cms

    Listed Price: £3,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16469

    A fine George III giltwood and gesso wall mirror in the Chinese Chippendale style. The rectangular mirror plate is enclosed by a delicate frame embellished with c scrolls and trailing garlands, surmounted by a palm leaf pagoda.

    English, c.1765.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height
    27 316"
    69 cms
    46 78"
    119 cms

    Listed Price: £7,900 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16485

    A very fine George III wall mirror, with a delicate giltwood frame embodying the lightness of the Chippendale style, with slender c scrolls, trailing foliage and an elegant crest. The frame encloses a very foxed mercury plate.

    English, c.1760.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    External 28"
    71 cms
    46 12"
    118 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms
  • Stock: 16293

    A pair of very fine and large nineteenth-century Northern Italian crystal chandeliers. The pair of eight branch chandeliers have elegant central stems mounted with silvered scalloped bowls which are hung with crisply cut prism drops, from which emanate elegant swan neck arms, strung with beads and drops. The chandeliers are crowned with beautiful canes of curled glass, hung with faceted glass drops.

    Italian, c.1860.

    Provenance: From a fine house in Turin.

    View our collection of: Antique chandeliers.

    Diameter Drop
    33 18"
    84 cms
    36 316"
    92 cms

    Listed Price: £10,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 15964

    A very fine and large giltwood Venetian wall mirror. The frame is surmounted by a floral crest above an oval mirror plate etched with an urn of flowers, and this is supported by foliate scrolls and mirrored spandrels, which are engraved with bunches of grapes. The foliate scrollwork continues around the frame and this encloses eight exquisite marginal plates, each engraved with a slightly different subject, some with a musical theme. The corners are embellished with ruby glass behind an acanthus leaf, and this surrounds the original mercury plate. A very fine and rare mirror.

    Italian, c.1790.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    48"
    122 cms
    74"
    188 cms

    Listed Price: £9,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16297

    A very large and fine 32 branch gilt brass chandelier hung with enormous faceted pear shaped glass drops. This grand chandelier is truly a statement piece, with two tiers of scrolling foliate arms emanating from a foliate baluster stem, strung with glass beads and drops. A statement chandelier of exceptional quality.
    French, c.1890.

    View our collection of: Antique chandeliers.

    Diameter Drop
    48"
    122 cms
    52"
    132 cms
  • Stock: 16228

    A grand and monumental early Victorian trumeau chimneypiece in the Renaissance Revival style. The blockwork trumeau is centred by an armorial and rests on a large freize carved with floral spandrels in the Tudor Revival style, over cantilevered, moulded jambs. A fine fireplace best suited to a grand interior.

    English, c.1860.

    Provenance: Hinton Old Hall, Shropshire.

    View our collection of: Antique Renaissance, Gothic Tudor Fireplace mantels and Chimneypieces: 1260 - 1600

    width height depth
    External, inc. hearth 68 12"
    174 cms
    86"
    218.5 cms
    11 12"
    29.3 cms
    Internal 48"
    122 cms
    35 316"
    89.5 cms
  • Stock: 16342

    An exceptional giltwood Venetian wall mirror. The fine frame has strapwork cresting, pierced sides and apron, the whole carved with rocaille, c-scrolls and floral flourishes, enclosing the original mercury glass mirror plate, which is surmounted by an etched cartouche plate to the crest, decorated with a woman playing a lyre with a pastoral scene.

    Venice, c.1780.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    width height depth
    48 38"
    123 cms
    63 1316"
    162 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms
    Crest depth 6 12"
    16.5 cms
  • Stock: 16337

    An exceptional Gothic Revival stone chimneypiece from Woodchester Mansion. Carved from soft buff coloured Bath stone, this chimneypiece is a celebration of nature, with a floral undershelf beautifully carved in high relief. This rests on a frieze carved with five foliate panels. One panel is carved with a vine, the other a flowering lily, the central panel depicts two birds devouring grapes from a vine, the next, a British oak laden with acorns, and the final panel, a fruiting ivy.
    This beautiful carving is surpassed only on the spandrels, where on one side it is carved with a grapevine, and on the other a serpent is shown within a fruiting tree, evoking the story of Eve. The jambs are deftly carved with floral paterae and grapevines over moulded footblocks.

    This piece is an extraordinary survival from the unfinished Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire. By repute it was designed and made for the mansion but was never installed as the building project was left unfinished. AWN Pugin drew up early plans for this house, but the project was later taken on by Benjamin Bucknall. It is uncertain whether this chimneypiece was designed by Pugin, or was in fact designed by Bucknall, but it does share many stylistic similarities to the stonework throughout the rest of the house. Sadly after the patron of the project died, his Gothic vision was never realised in full.

    English, c.1860

    Provenance: Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire.

    View our collection of: Antique Renaissance, Gothic Tudor Fireplace mantels and Chimneypieces: 1260 - 1600

    Width Height Depth
    External 55 38"
    140.7 cms
    58 1116"
    149 cms
    8"
    20.3 cms
    Internal 33 1116"
    85.5 cms
    40 58"
    103 cms
  • Stock: 16211

    A very large and rare and heavy cast iron William IV fire grate, with a dramatic Rococo backplate and imposing andirons cast with ornate foliate decoration. A truly imposing piece and a very unusual design.

    English, c.1830.

    View our collection of: Antique fire grates and log baskets.

    Width Height Depth
    External 40 316"
    102 cms
    39"
    99 cms
    18 78"
    48 cms
    Back Width 36"
    91.5 cms

    Listed Price: £8,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16344

    A fine and rare pair of 18th century George III wall mirrors with original mercury plates. Each plate is bordered by a giltwood frame of foliate design woven with c and s scrolls, very much in the Chippendale manner.

    It is very rare to come across such a fine pair of mirrors of this date.
    English, c.1760.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height
    26 1316"
    68 cms
    49 58"
    126 cms
  • Stock: 16294

    A fine mid-eighteenth century Venetian giltwood wall mirror. The elegant mirror is profusely decorated with foliate c scrolls in the Rococo manner, with floral flourishes and an elegant finial above an additional mirror plate. With original mercury plates.

    Northern Italian, c.1760.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height Depth
    36 1316"
    93.5 cms
    55 18"
    140 cms
    9 14"
    23.5 cms
  • Stock: 16273

    A rare Irish chimneypiece of grand proportions in statuary marble. The generous moulded shelf rests over a wide panelled frieze which is mounted with a tablet of exceptional quality. It depicts a recumbent Poseidon, god of the sea, being drawn on a seashell chariot by hippocampi, all carved in an artful blend of high and low relief. This scene is flanked by the most glorious endblocks, each a crouching Aphrodite, situated within a scallop shell. These crouch above freestanding Doric columns. The strikingly simple elegance of the chimneypiece is a perfect foil for the beautifully carved tablet and spectacular endblocks.

    Irish, c.1820.

    Provenance: Raheen House, Raheen, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Southern Ireland. By repute, the chimneypiece was installed at Raheen House by the then owners of the house, the Burke family, circa 1889, when they apparently acquired it in lieu of a part payment for a warehouse. This commercial building was purchased by the Loreto Convent of Clonmel to be used as a religious school when their own school was damaged by fire.

    View our section showing the full range of our neo-classical chimneypieces

    Width Height Depth
    External 83 78"
    213 cms
    54 1116"
    139 cms
    18 18"
    46 cms
    Internal 43 14"
    110 cms
    38 58"
    98 cms
  • Stock: 16295

    An exceptionally fine late Renaissance walnut cabinet from Tuscany. The two-part cabinet comprises an upper section of three cupboards concealing double shelves, and three drawers, divided by slender pilasters. The lower section is the inverse, and is supported on ionic capital feet. It also possesses early locks, and associated key.
    This cabinet is characteristic of pieces that were made for the residences of Tuscan nobles during the late-Renaissance, and exhibits regional characteristics associated with furniture made in this region. Very few pieces of this quality survive from this period.

    Italian, c.1590. With restorations, commensurate with age.

    Villa Cenami, Lucca.

    Width Height Depth
    71 38"
    181.4 cms
    77"
    195.5 cms
    22 58"
    57.3 cms
  • Stock: 8232

    A very smart English Regency specimen marble chimneypiece in Kilkenny Black Fossil Marble inlaid with Breche Violette marble panels which have been cut and opened like a book to reveal symetrical veining. The oval plaque on the frieze and the flanking end blocks are of inlaid Convent Sienna Marble. English, circa 1820.

    Link to: Antique English Regency chimneypieces inc. George IV fireplace mantels.

    Width Height Depth
    External 69"
    175.3 cms
    55 1116"
    141.6 cms
    6"
    15.2 cms
    Internal 43"
    109.2 cms
    42 12"
    108 cms

    Listed Price: £24,000 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 15910

    An exceptional pair of large alabaster lidded vases in the manner of Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850). The lidded urns of baluster form, are finely carved from translucent alabaster the body of the vase depicting classical scenes, the lids topped with a fruiting finial, resting on the slender everted necks with egg and dart rim.
    Italian, c.1820, with restorations.

    Notes: Lorenzo Bartolini was born in Tuscany and studied in Florence and at the Officina Inghirami in Volterra, a workshop established in 1791 which produced alabaster sculpture and objects in the neoclassical style for Grand Tourist and other wealthy patrons. In 1797 he moved to Paris, where he became a close friend of Ingres and the favoured sculptor of Napoléon, who sent him to Carrara in 1807 to direct the Academy of Sculpture. Later he settled in Florence, where his Grand Tour patrons included Thomas Hope and the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

    Lorenzo Bartolini began his career on high quality decorative urns and tazzi for visiting grand tourists. A series of 19 sketches with designs for such vases was published.

    Diameter Height
    14 1316"
    37.5 cms
    44 12"
    113 cms
    with wooden base 48 38"
    123 cms
  • Stock: 16230

    A fine antique cut glass and gilt brass chandelier of exceptional quality of a tent and waterfall design, profusely hung with beads and prism drops, issuing eight scrolling foliate gilt brass arms.
    English, mid-19th century.

    View our collection of: Antique chandeliers.

    Diameter Drop
    33 18"
    84 cms
    46 18"
    117 cms
  • Stock: 15439

    An imposing Regency statuary marble chimneypiece with a bold geometric design to the frieze and the jambs, and laurel wreath endblocks. This strikingly modern design embedded within the Greek Revival style is very much the antecedent to the Art Deco, despite being designed over a hundred years before the modernist style. This chimneypiece is of exceptional quality.
    Irish, circa 1820.

    View our section showing the full range of our neo-classical chimneypieces

    Width Height Depth
    External 84 18"
    213.5 cms
    54 12"
    138.5 cms
    12"
    30.6 cms
    Internal 50 316"
    127.5 cms
    41 12"
    105.5 cms
  • Stock: 15359

    A highly unusual and attractive Gothic Revival oak and inlaid ebony Victorian sideboard attributed to the renowned English furniture designer Charles Bevan(1820s-1882).

    The undercut top shelf, with a raised three quarter gallery, rests above three neat drawers beneath which is a central set of recessed open shelves, flanked by two cupboards with quatrefoil paneled doors. The brass ringed handles, hinges and locks are original and the whole is supported on a sturdy plinth base. A finely made piece of furniture with great attention paid to detail and carving.
    English, late 19th century.

    Notes: Charles Bevan was a Victorian Gothic Revival designer who was noted for his marquetry designs. In earlier years he worked with prestigious furniture manufacturers and designers including Gillows and J. P. Seddon and became very well known his work featuring in catalogues and periodicals. A woodcarver and cabinetmaker of some distinction in 1872 he set up in partnership with his son, designing and manufacturing marquetry furniture until his death in 1892.Examples of his work can be viewed at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and can also be found in various English country mansions.

    Link to: Antique furniture

    Width Height Depth
    70 18"
    178 cms
    41 14"
    105 cms
    28"
    71 cms

    Listed Price: £3,950 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16130

    Psyche Abandoned

    A rare Italian sculpture depicting Psyche, attributed to the Italian sculptor, Pietro Tenerani.

    Pietro Tenerani (1798-1869) was a sculptor perhaps best known for his neoclassical works of the early nineteenth-century. He trained under Lorenzo Bartolini at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara and with his uncle Pietro Marchetti, where he learnt how to polish and finish marble. After his early training, he won a scholarship to Rome in 1815, where he entered the studio of Bertel Thorvaldsen, considered one of the great masters of the age. He worked together with Thorvaldsen on several illustrious commissions, and soon set up his own studio. Among Tenerani’s illustrious patrons were William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, Queen Victoria, and Pope Pius IX.

    In 1816, Tenerani produced his first model of Psyche Abandoned under his own name, a beautifully finished work in plaster. This work transcended the more rigidly neoclassical style of the period, and instead bore the naturalism of an earlier age. It was soon acquired by the noblewoman and patron of the arts Marchesa Carlotta de’ Medici Lenzoni for her private collection. The sculpture was subsequently entered into an exhibition at the Palazzo Caffarelli in Rome, where many collectors admired and praised it for its naturalism and beauty. As a result of the exhibition, some admirers of this work requested copies to be made. It is likely that our own copy of this first work was made shortly after the exhibition; it wasn’t uncommon for a much-admired work to have copies made in both plaster and in marble. Many collectors even favoured the plaster originals, understanding that in many cases the marble versions were carved by workshop assistants rather than the master. It was Antonio Canova who popularised the practice of creating a finished work in plaster, giving the work of the marble carving to his assistants. Canova would then step in at the final stages of carving, to add his own hand to the finer details.

    Tenerani’s depiction of the young Psyche captured the imagination of Italian society, but the myth of the young princess and her lover had been enjoyed since antiquity. Their story is one of the interplay between the Soul and Desire. Psyche is the personification of the soul and conveys its vulnerability when met with the tempestuous and transient nature of desire, here embodied by the deity Cupid. If Psyche and Cupid’s story concerns the soul and desire, then their ultimate union should be considered one of fate. Their story is told by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses, written in the 2nd century AD and broadly follows this narrative: Cupid’s mother, the Goddess of love Aphrodite, was driven into a fury when she discovered that her worshippers were neglecting her and instead making offerings to a young and beautiful princess, Psyche. In her rage, Aphrodite demanded that her son Cupid make Psyche fall in love with an unworthy man as a punishment for her beauty. However, Cupid is scratched by his own arrow and falls in love with Psyche himself.

    They marry, yet Cupid tells his bride to never look at him, lest she be injured if she settled her gaze on a God. She complies until one evening she can no longer resist temptation, and she casts a light over her sleeping beloved with a lamp. He wakes, and in his fury at her betrayal, flees. Psyche is inconsolable and approaches the God’s mother Aphrodite and appeals to her to reunite them. She is set a series of impossible tasks by the Goddess, and when she fails the final task, at Cupid’s request the other Gods take mercy on her granting her immortality so the lovers can be reunited.

    Apuleius’ story is a lesson about finding balance between matters of the body and spirit, to live in harmony. Cupid and Psyche were represented not only in this tale, but in much earlier Hellenistic Art too, which makes Tenerani the perfect master for this work.

    His sculpture captures the moment in which Psyche’s beloved departs in a rage, leaving her alone. She sits on a rock, her youth emphasised in the modelling of her body and face. Her face in downcast, and her anguish is sensed not only in her expression but also in her posture. In this sculpture, Tenerani has captured the essence of the Hellenistic sculpture that he so revered at this stage of his career. Archaeological excavations in Rome had revealed ancient copies of sculptures from Greece and set the standard to which to aspire.

    The drapery over her legs is reminiscent of Hellenistic sculpture insofar as it has weight to it, a quality that the eighteenth-century scholar Johann Winckelmann described as a “wet look”. Carving and modelling of this quality is indicative of a master, and this detail allowed the Tenerani to showcase his skill as a sculpture independent from his master.

    In this version of the sculpture, Psyche is depicted without wings. It wasn’t unusual to find Psyche represented this way, as sculptures of this quality were commissioned by or intended for an audience who would find the subject immediately recognisable. Pietro Tenerani’s first sculpture of Psyche dated to 1817 does shows her with wings and is also modelled in plaster. Both sculptures are the same size and possess an almost identical finish, where the top layer of the plaster has been toned to give it a patina and both also display a very fine level of finish, so this work is to be regarded as a finished sculpture rather than mere modello. It is perhaps most interesting to consider how the composition developed over time in the hands of its master.

    Tenerani’s Psyche Abandoned is considered one of the most revered sculptures of the nineteenth-century, so we are honoured to have such a fine version in our collection.

    Width Height Depth
    21 14"
    54 cms
    44 78"
    114 cms
    20 12"
    52 cms
  • Stock: 16101

    A very fine early George III giltwood wall mirror in the manner of Thomas Chippendale, the frame with a finely carved scrolling acanthus crest and trailing foliage with the merest suggestion of the pagoda corners associated with Chippendale's designs. Original gilding.
    English, c.1760.

    View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

    Width Height
    24"
    61 cms
    46 78"
    119 cms
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