A PAIR OF CHARLES II SILVER ANDIRONS

LONDON, CIRCA 1680, DATE LETTERS INDISTINCT, THE DETACHABLE VASES AND FLAME FINIALS LATER, THE BASES WITH MAKERS MARK RC, PELLET ABOVE AND PELLETS BELOW, WITHIN DOTTED CIRCLE

細節

A PAIR OF CHARLES II SILVER ANDIRONS
London, circa 1680, date letters indistinct, the detachable vases and flame finials later, the bases with makers mark RC, pellet above and pellets below, within dotted circle
The bases each on two scaly-dolphin and scroll feet, the front plates chased with foliate scrolls with lion's-mask terminals, the center with vacant cartouche within laurel and rosette wreath, hung beneath with a flower and husk garland and chased above with a winged cherubim, the sides applied with acanthus foliage, with plain square plinth and detachable inverted pear-shaped vase, the lower part chased with acanthus foliage and above with winged cherubim and flower and husk garlands, all on a matted ground, with detachable cast flame finial, fitted with later iron supports, marked on bases, the vases and finials unmarked
20½in. (52cm.) high (2)

來源

The Dukes of Manchester, Kimbolton Castle

展覽

The London International Exhibition, May 1-November 15, 1862, nos. 5997 and 5998

拍品專文

The andirons were a compelling feature in the grand fireplace of the saloon at Kimbolton Castle, as recorded in H. Avray Tipping and C. Hussey, English Homes, Period IV, Vol. II, London, 1928, pgs. 116 and 117. Kimbolton Castle was from medieval times the home of the Mandeville family and subsequently the Wingfields. The castle first rose to national prominence in 1533 as the chosen home of Henry VIII's divorced queen Catherine of Aragon, who died there during the winter of 1536. In the early 17th century the estate came into the hands of Sir Henry Montagu, the first Earl of Manchester. In the early eighteenth century, the fourth Earl of Manchester remodelled the house in a more current taste. He consulted the architect Vanburgh, who decided upon a new plan of interior reconstruction involving a large noble room of parade, eighteen feet high, in place of the established piano nobile. It was in this saloon with its great mantlepiece, featuring a vast shell ornament, that the andirons were placed.