A GILT-BRONZE CENTRE-PIECE

Details

A GILT-BRONZE CENTRE-PIECE
FORMED AS A FOUNTAIN

After the original made for the marriage of John Douglas Sutherland to Her Royal Highness, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the circular dished bowl supported by male classical figures resting on fantastic dolphins and holding aloft turtles, four shell-shaped bowls below, the slightly concave square tapering base cast with acanthus scrolls and surmounted by a vase-shaped stem, on a square giltwood mirrored plateau, with shaped angles and bun feet
height of centrepiece 9in. (23cm), width of mirrored plateau, 15¼in. (39.5cm);
and a framed albumen photographic print of the original, inscribed Subscribers' Copy, bearing the following inscription PRESENTED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF LANDOWNERS IN THE COUNTY OF ARGYLL, TO JOHN DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND, MARQUIS OF LORNE, M.P. FOR ARGYLLSHIRE, as an expression of kind regard for him and hearty congratulations on the auspicious event of His Marriage with Her Royal Highness, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, Fourth Daughter of Her Majesty The Queen, 1871 (2)

Lot Essay

This gilt bronze 'Tortoise fountain' banqueting centre-piece, with tortoises drinking from a tazza and assisted by amorini perched on Venus's dolphin-driven shells, derives from Rome's celebrated fountain in the Piazza Mattei. The latter was adapted in 1658 from a fountain commissioned in 1581 and designed by the sculptor Giacomo della Porta.

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