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Lot Essay
This pentagonal-compartmented lantern hangs from a corona of Grecian-fretted ribbons drawn by winged horses. The latter perch on the pillars voluted trusses of Roman acanthus foliage, while the triumphal-arched panes are surmounted by foliated cartouches, ensigned by the nature deity's pearl-enriched shell, and displaying heads of the dawn-deity Aurora. A similar head of the sun and hunter-deity Apollo, dressed with knotted hair, features amongst Louis Quatorze chandelier patterns that were issued by Jean Bérain (d.1711). The pagan dawn-deity was thought to pursue fleeing night while issuing from the ocean in a chariot, which is here evoked by the winged horses, and appropriate symbolism for this lantern.
Following the restoration of the Bourbon line in France in 1815, interest in Louis Quinze and Louis Seize styles found a revival in England. This passion for styles of the 'ancien regime' was exemplified in the buying patterns of George, Prince of Wales, and his close circle of friends including Lord Lonsdale, the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Shelburne who brought home the spoils of Europe following the Napoleonic Wars. The combined picturesque and classical elements on this lantern reflect the inaccurate historicism of earlier styles. In the eighteenth century, similar french style 'lanthorns' feature in Thomas Chippendale's Director, third edition, 1762, pl.CLII and CLIII. A set of eight similar lanterns were supplied by William Vile for the Hall of Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace) in 1763 (see P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924, vol.II, p.283, fig.5) and another attributed to Vile was sold by Sotheby's London, 19 November 1993, lot 16 (£150,000).
Following the restoration of the Bourbon line in France in 1815, interest in Louis Quinze and Louis Seize styles found a revival in England. This passion for styles of the 'ancien regime' was exemplified in the buying patterns of George, Prince of Wales, and his close circle of friends including Lord Lonsdale, the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Shelburne who brought home the spoils of Europe following the Napoleonic Wars. The combined picturesque and classical elements on this lantern reflect the inaccurate historicism of earlier styles. In the eighteenth century, similar french style 'lanthorns' feature in Thomas Chippendale's Director, third edition, 1762, pl.CLII and CLIII. A set of eight similar lanterns were supplied by William Vile for the Hall of Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace) in 1763 (see P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924, vol.II, p.283, fig.5) and another attributed to Vile was sold by Sotheby's London, 19 November 1993, lot 16 (£150,000).