CIRCA 1760

Details

A GEORGE III PINE FIRE SURROUND
Circa 1760
The leaf-tip carved, dentiled and egg-and-dart molded cornice of everted breakfront form overhanging a frieze centered by a tablet with Bacchic ram's mask, oak leaves, scrolling vines and grape bunches, flanked to the frieze with ribbon-tied fruit and fig garlands, the fluted double Ionic spreading columns beneath crossed thrysus trophies, each upright on a plinth base, the shelf with three cuts for electrical sockets, previously decorated, inscribed in blue chalk May...1897
64½in. (164cm.) high, 103½in. (163cm.) wide, 17in. (43cm.) deep overall; 50in. (127cm.) high, 60¼in. (153cm.) wide, 7½in. (19cm.) deep the aperture

Lot Essay

Probably intended for a dining room, this fire surround displays a ram's mask issuing scrolling grape vines bedecked with grape bunches, symbolic of the mysteries of the Bacchic rites. This boldly carved chimney-piece with Grecian Ionic columns reflects the elegant antique style introduced at the start of George III's reign, such as features in a pattern published in Messrs Crunden, Milton and Columbani's Chimney-Piece Maker's Daily Assistant, London 1766, pl. 31.

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