A PAIR OF REGENCY PLASTER FIGURES

BY HUMPHREY HOPPER

Details

A PAIR OF REGENCY PLASTER FIGURES
By Humphrey Hopper
Each in the form of a draped lady holding a brass candlestick, one representing a bacchante with vine-wrapped hair, the other representing Hygieia, goddess of good health, feeding the serpent of Ascelius, god of healing, with a flower-entwined headband, a snake wrapped around her arm and a shallow bowl in the other hand, both on a plinth and on a later wooden shaped and stepped base, imprinted with 'Mar 2 1813 H. Hopper London' to the plinth, redecorated and some losses to the paint, with two earlier layers of paint
17 in. (43 cm.) wide; 71¼ in. (181 cm.) high, including plinth; 17 in. (36 cm.) deep (2)

Lot Essay

Humphrey Hopper (1767- circa 1842) attended the Royal Academy Schools in 1801 and was awarded a Gold Medal in 1803 for a group of The Death of Meleager. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1799 and 1834. His best known work is probably the monument to General Hay in St. Paul's Cathedral, commissioned by the Government in 1814. Although Hopper was the author of many sculptures of monumental form, he also successfully produced a wide variety of ornamental figures, busts, statues, torchères, candelabra and clocks, for which he is principally known today.

A pair of related bronze torchère figures, after Hopper, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 12 July 1990, lot 64.

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