EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A pair of cream-painted carved wood brackets
Early 18th century
Modelled with herms and scrolling stylised foliate ornament within moulded brackets
26½in. (67cm.) high, 21¼in. (54cm.) deep (2)

Provenance

The Earls of Carlisle, Castle Howard, Yorkshire, and by descent to Charles Howard, 12th Earl of Carlisle (d. 1994), until sold Sotheby's House Sale, 11-13 November 1991, lot 7.

Literature

T. Clifford, 'The Plaster Shops of the Rococo and Neo-Classical Era in Britain', The Journal of the History of Collections, vol. IV, 1992, pp. 39-65 and fig. 2.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

These fine caryatic brackets, with satyr and nymph herms emerging from voluted trusses of Roman acanthus, formed part of an architectural entablature at Castle Howard, Yorkshire, which was designed in 1700 for Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle (d. 1738) by Sir John Vanburgh (d. 1762). Conceived in the Louis XIV 'Roman' fashion, they relate to Arcadian figures in the pattern book for floral overdoors and chimney-pieces, entitled Nouveaux Livre de Tableaux de Porte et cheminee, that was issued around 1700 by Daniel Marot (d. 1752) 'architect' to William III. The trussed caryatid featured on early 18th Century Huguenot silver, and amongst the principal sculptor carvers involved in Castle Howard's building was Samuel Carpenter (d. 1713) of York; and Nadauld, the Earl of Devonshire's Huguenot protégé (see C. Saumarez Smith, The Building of Castle Howard, London, 1990).

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