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Lot Essay
The Louis XVI style hermed pedestals, display ormolu bas-reliefs, after medallions by Bertel Thorvaldsen (d. 1843). A set of four, representing the seasons was commissioned in 1823 and illustrated in the Exhibition Catalogue, Kln, Museen der Stadt, Bertel Thorvaldsen, 5 February - 3 April, 1997, p. 239. One of the present medallions depicts a hunter returning to his family, symbolising Autumn and the other shows the preparation of a meal, and represents Winter.
A related marble-topped pattern for pedestals featured in an 1870's work-book of the Leeds and London firm of Messrs. Marsh, Jones and Cribb, whose work was discussd in B. J. Talbert's Examples of Ancient and Modern Furniture Metal-work Tapestries, Decoration etc..., London, 1876. The present pair, in satinwood with wooden, rather than marble tops, combine Louis XVI stylistic elements with the fashion for neoclassical ornament popularised by Robert Adam, (d. 1792), architect to George III. A similar pedestal also featured in the 1897 catalogue of Hampton and Sons of Charing Cross. Another, purchased in 1907 was bequeathed to the Leeds City Art Gallery; and a further pair, is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, vol. II, no. 365). There is another, with a marble top in the French style, in the drawing-room at Charlecote Park (illustrated in the guide book for Charlecote Park, Hampshire, 1995, p. 30).
A related marble-topped pattern for pedestals featured in an 1870's work-book of the Leeds and London firm of Messrs. Marsh, Jones and Cribb, whose work was discussd in B. J. Talbert's Examples of Ancient and Modern Furniture Metal-work Tapestries, Decoration etc..., London, 1876. The present pair, in satinwood with wooden, rather than marble tops, combine Louis XVI stylistic elements with the fashion for neoclassical ornament popularised by Robert Adam, (d. 1792), architect to George III. A similar pedestal also featured in the 1897 catalogue of Hampton and Sons of Charing Cross. Another, purchased in 1907 was bequeathed to the Leeds City Art Gallery; and a further pair, is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, vol. II, no. 365). There is another, with a marble top in the French style, in the drawing-room at Charlecote Park (illustrated in the guide book for Charlecote Park, Hampshire, 1995, p. 30).