A GEORGE III WHITE MARBLE AND JASPER CHIMNEYPIECE

Details
A GEORGE III WHITE MARBLE AND JASPER CHIMNEYPIECE
The inverted breakfront shelf above a lappeted and dentilled cornice and alternating roundel and flowerhead frieze divided by triglyphs, flanked on each side by a column, the aperture with egg-and-dart moulding, with a later rectangular hearth, lacking two roundels from the frieze;
With a nickel (?) plated steel serpentine-shaped fender with pierced foliate and oval frieze and moulded base and serpentine-shaped barred register grate with conforming pierced apron in a rectangular engraved border with roundels
The chimneypiece: 67 in. (172 cm.) high; 65 in. (166 cm.) wide The aperture: 48 in. (123 cm.) high; 54 in. (138 cm.) wide
The hearth: 64 in. x 24 in. (162 cm. x 61 cm.)
The fender: 6 in. (17 cm.) high; 60 in. (152.5 cm.) wide; 25 in. (63.5 cm.) deep
The grate: 47 in. (121.5 cm.) high; 54 in. (137.5 cm.) wide; 17 in. (43 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

The statuary marble chimneypiece has a moulded and foliated cornice with projecting 'architectural ends' above free-standing Roman Doric columns, whose shafts are of jasper marble en suite with the frieze. The latter is enriched with Doric triglyphs accompanied by paterae alternating with sunflower medallions in the George III antique manner.
The Roman Doric columns of the chimneypiece are in the mid-18th Century fashion and can be compared to designs by Sir William Chambers, which were commissioned by Major E. R. Compton, for the entrance and the pavillion in the Pheasantry at Newby Hall, Yorkshire (J. Harris, Sir William Chambers - Knight of the Polar Star, London, 1970, figs. 76 and 77).

More from Important English Furniture

View All
View All