Lot Essay
The drawing illustrated shows an unsigned pencil drawing by George Bullock at Tew Park, Great Tew, Oxfordshire, which is inscribed in his hand 'Plan of Stove in Dining room and Oak Study' and appears to confirm the attribution to Bullock of this distinctive design, first made in the exhibition catalogue, C.Gilbert and A. Wells-Cole, The Fashionable Fire Place, Temple Newsam House, Leeds, 1985, p. 30, cat.no. 22. The design is based on the Tomb of Agrippa in the Pantheon, Rome illustrated in A. Desgodetz, Les Edifices Antiques de Rome, Paris, 1682, pl. V, p. 19 (illustrated in E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, fig. 112).
Four grates of this design were sold from the collection of the late Major Eustace Robb, Tew Park, Great Tew, Oxfordshire, Christie's house sale, 27 May 1987, lots 4, 27, 48 and 155. Two grates of similar design were sold anonymously in these Rooms, one 19 April 1990, lot 15 and the other 18 November 1993, lot 110.
Four grates of this design were sold from the collection of the late Major Eustace Robb, Tew Park, Great Tew, Oxfordshire, Christie's house sale, 27 May 1987, lots 4, 27, 48 and 155. Two grates of similar design were sold anonymously in these Rooms, one 19 April 1990, lot 15 and the other 18 November 1993, lot 110.