2ND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

An English stone chimneypiece
2nd half 17th century
The frieze centred by a female mask with berried ivy garland flanked by fruiting and flowering ribbon-tied swags, further masks to the jambs with ribbon tied pendant flowers and fruit
83½ in. (212 cm.) high, 106¾ in. (271 cm.) wide, 11½ in. (29.5 cm.) deep; the opening -- 66½ in. (169 cm.) high, 57½ in. (146 cm.) wide

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. This lot is subject to storage and collection charges. **For Furniture and Decorative Objects, storage charges commence 7 days from sale. Please contact department for further details.**

Lot Essay

The magnificent and monumental banqueting hall chimneypiece celebrates 'peace and plenty', and is conceived in the seventeenth century Roman fashion. With its harvest of fruit and flowers festooned from beribboned masks of the ivy-wreathed wine-deity Bacchus and his companion bacchantae, it relates to the late l7th century embellishment of Hampton Court palace proposed by the court architect William Talman (d.1719) and to chimneypieces with 'festoons and frutages' designed by the court sculptor Grinling Gibbons (d.1721) (S.Thurley Hampton Court, London, 2003, figs 177 and 158).

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