LATE 18TH EARLY 19TH CENTURY, FRENCH OR GERMAN

Details

AN AJOUREE CARVED IVORY RELIEF DEPICTING LAOCOON
LATE 18TH EARLY 19TH CENTURY, FRENCH OR GERMAN
Depicting Laocoon to the centre and his two sons on either side being attacked by the serpent from heaven; on an integrally carved plinth and set in a late Regency giltwood and gilt composition frame with red velvet covering, the frame labelled 'G.COOPER'S...'; minor dirt
6½ in. (16.5 cm.) high; 10½ x 8¾ in. (26.7 x 22.2 cm.) the frame

Provenance

Purchased by George Byng Esq. M.P. (d.1847) through Jarmans at Squibs, 1827 and thence by descent.

Literature

'List of Furniture, Porcelain, Paintings & C., purchased by George Byng Esq., for Wrotham Park, 1816-43','Jarmans 1827 at squibs...a carving in Ivory of the Laocoon & Frame £8.10.'
Wrotham Park 1847 Inventory, 'BOUDOIR Two ivory carving groups framed and glazed'.

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.

Sale room notice

Please note that this lot contains ivory and will need a CITES licence to be exported outside the EU. Please contact Mike Coke (Tel: 020 7389 2828) in our Art Transport department for further information.

Lot Essay

Laocoon was a Trojan priest of Apollo. He dared to dissuade against drawing the wooden horse into the city of Troy and was hence, together with his two sons, condemned by the anger of the gods to be crushed to death by serpents. The Laocoon was discovered on 14 January 1506 near S. Maria Maggiore, Rome. Ceded by Pope Pius VI to the French under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino of February 1797, it arrived in Paris in the triumphal procession of July 1798. It was returned to the Belvedere courtyard in Rome in 1816.

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