Lot Essay
This spice-bearing camel, accompanied the armorial escutcheon, which dominated the balustrade above the entrance to the Hall of The Worshipful Company of Grocer's in the City of London. The architect Thomas Leverton (d. 1824), the Company's Surveyor, who designed the Hall in 1798, favoured the use of Coade stone for the embellishment of his buildings. The camel is likely to have been modelled by Joseph Panzetta (fl. 1789-1830), Coade's chief sculptor at the time.
The account for the camel, which was one of a pair, can probably be identified with a payment 'For Hall building, July 17, 1800, Eleanor Coade, ornamental artifical stone - #82.18.0.' On March 29th of that year, the firm had been paid #100. 'on account', which appears to be for the large armorial escutcheon (Guildhall Library MSS.).
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851, London 1951, revised edition, p. 108.
Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, Upton-upon-Severn, 1990, p. 234.
(An engraving of the Grocers' Hall, London.)
(An engraving of the Grocers' Hall, London.)
The account for the camel, which was one of a pair, can probably be identified with a payment 'For Hall building, July 17, 1800, Eleanor Coade, ornamental artifical stone - #82.18.0.' On March 29th of that year, the firm had been paid #100. 'on account', which appears to be for the large armorial escutcheon (Guildhall Library MSS.).
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851, London 1951, revised edition, p. 108.
Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, Upton-upon-Severn, 1990, p. 234.
(An engraving of the Grocers' Hall, London.)
(An engraving of the Grocers' Hall, London.)