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Lot Essay
This statuary marble chimney piece is in the manner of the neo-classical architect-designer, James Wyatt (d. 1813), based upon a very similar chimney piece almost certainly by Wyatt at Westport House, County Mayo, in the Morning or Toilet-room. The architect for this property built in 1732 was German-born Richard Cassells but the house was further extended and the interiors completed by Wyatt and his son, Benjamin, in c. 1778 (RIBA Library Drawings & Archives Collections, Ref. No. RIBA6999). The present example is also related to chimney pieces at Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, the distinction of this house being that the interior decoration is by Wyatt, in particular the chimney piece in the Drawing Room, although this room has subsequently been modified in the mid-19th century ('Heveningham Hall', The Antique Collector, August, 1968, p. 154).
This chimneypiece was possibly installed at Bury Hill by James Bucknall Grimston, 3rd Viscount Grimston (1747-1808). Lord Grimston visited Italy between 1770 and 1772 and may have commissioned it from contacts made whilst there. The delicate sculpting of the foliate carvings and the egg-and-dart mouldings, together with the gauge of the Siena marble veneers is typical of the work of an Italian sculptor, whilst the typically English form suggests that it was always intended for the English market.
Bury Hill was inherited by Lord Grimston's wife circa 1780, and the estate was then sold circa 1814. The house was occupied by the military during the Second World War and was partially destroyed by fire in 1949, what remains of the building is now apartments.
This chimneypiece was possibly installed at Bury Hill by James Bucknall Grimston, 3rd Viscount Grimston (1747-1808). Lord Grimston visited Italy between 1770 and 1772 and may have commissioned it from contacts made whilst there. The delicate sculpting of the foliate carvings and the egg-and-dart mouldings, together with the gauge of the Siena marble veneers is typical of the work of an Italian sculptor, whilst the typically English form suggests that it was always intended for the English market.
Bury Hill was inherited by Lord Grimston's wife circa 1780, and the estate was then sold circa 1814. The house was occupied by the military during the Second World War and was partially destroyed by fire in 1949, what remains of the building is now apartments.