A George III lead figure of Acis, on Portland stone pedestal

AFTER THE ANTIQUE, ATTRIBUTED TO THE WORKSHOPS OF JOHN CHEERE

Details

A George III lead figure of Acis, on Portland stone pedestal
After the Antique, Attributed to the workshops of John Cheere
The young satyr clad in a tightly-fitting Bacchic goat-skin, with curling hair, leaning against a tree-trunk, a shepherd's crook in his left hand and a pipe in his right, wearing elaborate sandals and standing on a flower-strewn base, indistinctly signed on the right shoulder Willian C..., some traces of original colour, minor restorations, on a Portland stone pedestal, with stepped top, panelled sides and stepped base
The figure: 52in. (132cm.) high
The pedestal: 38¾in. (98.4cm.) high

Provenance

Mr John Kluge, acquired for Mar Lodge, Braemar, Scotland, sold in these Rooms 16 May 1991, lot 185.

Literature

R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851, London, pp. 111-112.
Exhibition Catalogue, Temple Newsam, Leeds, 1974, The Man at Hyde Park Corner, Sculpture by John Cheere, 1709-1789, p. 9.

Lot Essay

The present figure of Acis is based on an Antique marble original, now at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, and known as The Holkham Faun. This was acquired by the Coke family in about 1750. It has been suggested that John Cheere (d.1787) acquired reproduction rights to the distinctive Coke Collection from about 1760, as other lead figures copied from Holkham statues began to appear after this time, for instance at Stourhead, Wiltshire.

The indistinct signature of the present lead figure may be that of William Collins (d.1793), a pupil of Sir Henry Cheere's who later had his own yard close to John Cheere and worked with him on the Burton Constable commission.

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