A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY URNS AND PEDESTALS

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A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY URNS AND PEDESTALS
Each with a lead-lined urn with fluted frieze, ormolu satyr-mask handles and a pinched socle, with a removable pinched and turned top with acorn finial, on a square plinth, above a rectangular pedestal, one with an oval-panelled drawer with shaped bottom above an oval- panelled door enclosing a tambour-fronted cupboard above a lead-lined cellaret-drawer, the other with a conforming front enclosing a metal- lined interior with a slatted shelf, on a moulded rectangular base, the base of the metal-lined pedestal with a heating-drawer, One inscribed to the reverse in red chalk '974/2 'PAIR', the urns previously pierced for a tap in the stepped plinth, the drawer formerly enclosing a removable tray
71 in. (180.5 cm.) high; 19½ in. (49.5 cm.) wide; 18½ in. (47 cm.) deep (2)

Lot Essay

The sideboard-pedestal's ormolu-enriched urns are of wine-krater form with 'Etruscan' handles provided by conjoined horns from bacchic satyr-masks, that are 'tied' to the rim by antique-fluted ribbons. The satyr-handled vase inspired by a pattern in Jacques Stella's Livre de vases, Paris, c. 1667, together with acorn-enriched lids, derives from a design by F. Kirschner (d. 1789). The pattern was adopted by Wedgwood around 1770 (T. Clifford in English Ceramic Circle, Transactions, vol. 10, pt. 3, p. 172, pl. 85). A pattern for such pedestal-supported urns, with medallion and satyr enrichments, featured in Robert and James Adam's, The Works in Architecture, London, 1773-79. Related urns, en suite with a sideboard-table and cellaret, were supplied by Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) for Paxton House, Berwickshire about 1775 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978 (fig. 351).

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