Lot 72
72
A NORTH ITALIAN GILT-VARNISHED SILVERED ('MECCA') AND GREEN-PAINTED FOUR-POSTER BED
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A NORTH ITALIAN GILT-VARNISHED SILVERED ('MECCA') AND GREEN-PAINTED FOUR-POSTER BED

LATE 18TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY FLORENTINE

Details
A NORTH ITALIAN GILT-VARNISHED SILVERED ('MECCA') AND GREEN-PAINTED FOUR-POSTER BED
Late 18th Century, possibly Florentine
The baluster-shaped leaf-wrapped column supports carved with railing vine and stylised foliage and with foliate capitals, the canopy decorated to front and sides with rosette medallions and surmounted to the front by a central scroll-handled and flower-filled vase on a stepped plinth and flanked by grotesque eagles issuing from scrolling foliage, the corners with further flower-filled vases, above similarly decorated rails, to the front with a lambrequinned apron decorated with stylised srolling foliage, on baluster-turned tapering feet
114 in. (290 cm.) high; 110½ in. (255 cm.) wide; 79¼ in. (202 cm.) deep
Provenance
Sir Evelyn de la Rue, Lockleys, Hertfordshire, and by descent to
Mary, Lady de la Rue, sold Christie's, London, 11 February 1954, lot 64, when acquired by the mother of the present owner.
Literature
'Lockleys, Hertfordshire, a Residence of Sir Eveline De La Rue, Bt.', Country Life, 10 July 1920, pp.48-55.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

The antiquarian 'Lockleys' state bed, with its Tuscan eagle-guarded vase, appears to have been purchased by Sir Evelyn de la Rue, Bt. following his lease of the Hertfordshire mansion in the second decade of the 20th Century. This house, according to H. Avery Tipping, had recently featured as the romantic 'Darneley Place' in Richard Bagot's novel concerning a Sicilian vendetta. The bed was acquired through the guidance of Mr. Basil Oxenden (.d.1919), and it was no doubt its 'Italian splendour' that Basil Oxenden, like Mr. Tipping, considered so appropriate for 'an English home of the late Renaissance period' (H.A. Tipping, 'Lockleys', Country Life, 10 July 1920, pp.48-55; and fig 12).

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