AFTER THE MODEL BY CLAUDE BALLIN

Details

A pair of lead Sphinx pattern urns, 20th century
After the model by Claude Ballin
The seated sphinxes cast above the scallop shell and lion mask drop-loop side handles, the beaded frieze with antique style medallions flanking female masks, fluted undersides on waisted and leaf bordered socles above integral square section plinths
29in. (73.8cm.) high (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

The Sphinx urns were among thirteen other patterns, designed for the Parterre du Midi and the Parterre du Nord at Versailles. In the 19th century, the Marquis of Hertford (1800-1870), a great admirer of Le Notre's garden designs, utilised his friendship with Napoleon III and gained the right to reproduce examples for his Chateau at Bagatelle. The Marquis' estate was gradually dispersed by his son and heir, Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890) and then by the family secretary Sir John Murray Scott (1847-1912). The Bagatelle sphinx urns were among those given to the Sackville-West family, at Sissinghurst Castle, by Scott.

John Davis, Antique Garden Ornament, Antique Collector's Club, 1991, page 135, plate 3:13.

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