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Lot Essay
These elegantly sculpted swans are a rare survival of 17th century English sculpture, executed as they are in fragile alabaster. Their scale suggests that they originally adorned an important monument of the early 17th century, and presumably had a heraldic function.
Sculpture in England in the 16th century had first been dominated by French and Italian influences, and then succeeded by sculptors and craftsmen from the Lowlands, many of whom had fled the wars of religion. Although there was no clear break from Continental influence, in the early 17th century Nicholas Stone emerged as a highly successful English mason-sculptor. Born the son of a Devon quarryman, Stone trained in London and in the studio of the Dutch sculptor Hendrik de Keyser. By 1613 he appears to have set up his own studio in Long Acre, and by the 1620s his workshop was one of the dominant centres for the production of monuments and architecturally related decoration.
The most important years of his career are exceptionally well-documented due to the existence of his note- and account-books for the period 1631-42, which list over 80 monuments and numerous other commissions (see Finberg, op. cit.).
The present four swans were probably commissioned as part of a larger architectural ensemble such as the canopied altar-tomb to Lord and Lady Spencer in St Mary's Church, Great Bington, Northamptonshire, which dates from 1638 (illustrated in Finberg, op. cit., pl. XXXIII). In such a commission one can easily imagine them adorning the top corners of the canopy, an appropriate position for any family for which the swan had a particular heraldic significance. The swan featured in the coat of arms or crest of a number of noble families from the Middle Ages onward, perhaps most famously in the form of the 'Bohun Swan', the crest of the de Bohun family, who were Earls of Hereford in the 14th century.
The present swans were given by Lady Juliet Duff (1881-1965) to the owners of Crichel House in 1964, and family tradition always stated that they had come from the celebrated collection at Wilton House, near Salisbury, home of the Earls of Pembroke. Although no records at Wilton have surfaced which might confirm this provenance, Lady Juliet's mother was sister to both the 13th and 14th Earl of Pembroke, and it is possible that they were acquired directly from her Herbert relations.
Sculpture in England in the 16th century had first been dominated by French and Italian influences, and then succeeded by sculptors and craftsmen from the Lowlands, many of whom had fled the wars of religion. Although there was no clear break from Continental influence, in the early 17th century Nicholas Stone emerged as a highly successful English mason-sculptor. Born the son of a Devon quarryman, Stone trained in London and in the studio of the Dutch sculptor Hendrik de Keyser. By 1613 he appears to have set up his own studio in Long Acre, and by the 1620s his workshop was one of the dominant centres for the production of monuments and architecturally related decoration.
The most important years of his career are exceptionally well-documented due to the existence of his note- and account-books for the period 1631-42, which list over 80 monuments and numerous other commissions (see Finberg, op. cit.).
The present four swans were probably commissioned as part of a larger architectural ensemble such as the canopied altar-tomb to Lord and Lady Spencer in St Mary's Church, Great Bington, Northamptonshire, which dates from 1638 (illustrated in Finberg, op. cit., pl. XXXIII). In such a commission one can easily imagine them adorning the top corners of the canopy, an appropriate position for any family for which the swan had a particular heraldic significance. The swan featured in the coat of arms or crest of a number of noble families from the Middle Ages onward, perhaps most famously in the form of the 'Bohun Swan', the crest of the de Bohun family, who were Earls of Hereford in the 14th century.
The present swans were given by Lady Juliet Duff (1881-1965) to the owners of Crichel House in 1964, and family tradition always stated that they had come from the celebrated collection at Wilton House, near Salisbury, home of the Earls of Pembroke. Although no records at Wilton have surfaced which might confirm this provenance, Lady Juliet's mother was sister to both the 13th and 14th Earl of Pembroke, and it is possible that they were acquired directly from her Herbert relations.