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Lot Essay
This rare and beautiful bench, conceived entirely frontally and centred by a figurative relief, is a characteristic example of the finest rococo work executed by Dutch sculptors. It is still basically symmetrical in design and incorporates a number of motifs - such as the drapery below the seat and the pronounced scrolls at the ends - that hark back to the late Louis XIV manner of William and Mary's famous architect/designer, Daniel Marot (1662-1752). However, it demonstrates an easy fluency, a graceful naturalness that is quintessentially rococo. The use of actual rocaille ornament is restricted to the central elements above and below the relief and the top parts of the legs; the bench was probably made during the early phase of Dutch rococo, around 1740-1750. There was then no leading modern architect working in Holland, a void that to a certain extent was filled by sculptors who turned their hand to decorative work. They designed and executed ornamental stonework and carving on buildings, and excelled in the production of spectacular panelling, buffet cupboards, console tables and other adornments for the interior (Reinier Baarsen, 'Beeldhouwers, beeldsnijders en meubelmakers', in: Reinier Baarsen (ed.), exh. cat. Rococo in Nederland, Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2001-2002, pp. 178-213). Carved benches very much formed part of their repertoire. Hall benches were in use in Holland from the second half of the 17th century onwards, and Marot may be credited with the introduction of the tall garden bench (Herbert J. Hijmersma, ''Een wijle van rust in de buitensael', Een gebeeldhouwde tuinbank naar ontwerp van Daniel Marot, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 31 (1980), pp. 279-284).
Benches for gardens
The present bench, with its outdoor scene of Pan pursuing Syrinx amongst the bulrushes watched by a river god, was probably also made as a garden bench. These remained in vogue in the middle years of the century: for instance, in 1744 and 1746 the Amsterdam sculptor Thomas van Zeventher advertised that he had made 'large and small carved and painted garden prospects or benches for seating' (Rococo in Nederland, p. 63). The term 'garden prospects' refers to the important role accorded to these sculptural elements in the termination of vistas, as seen in some of Marot's drawings and engravings of gardens. A design of about 1735 for a tall garden bench with hunting motifs is attributed to another sculptor working in Amsterdam, Frans Blancard, and the curiously old-fashioned series of engraved designs by the Middelburg sculptor Geerard de Grendel published in Augsburg around 1745-1755 include two highly fanciful examples (Rococo in Nederland, p. 183, fig. VII.8, and cat. no. 58). One of these, decorated with dragons and fountains, has the same arrangement of two frontally carved legs as the present example; it stresses the fact that these benches were meant to function as an architectural feature in a garden, intended to be seen from afar.
Although garden benches were made by fully trained sculptors, few rococo examples are known that include a figurative relief in the manner of the present piece. This marks it out as a particularly ambitious commission, doubtless created to harmonise with marble garden urns likewise carved with figures. By the middle of the 18th century those had largely been supplanted by purely ornamental vases, another indication for the relatively early date of the present bench.
We are grateful to Dr Reinier Baarsen for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Benches for gardens
The present bench, with its outdoor scene of Pan pursuing Syrinx amongst the bulrushes watched by a river god, was probably also made as a garden bench. These remained in vogue in the middle years of the century: for instance, in 1744 and 1746 the Amsterdam sculptor Thomas van Zeventher advertised that he had made 'large and small carved and painted garden prospects or benches for seating' (Rococo in Nederland, p. 63). The term 'garden prospects' refers to the important role accorded to these sculptural elements in the termination of vistas, as seen in some of Marot's drawings and engravings of gardens. A design of about 1735 for a tall garden bench with hunting motifs is attributed to another sculptor working in Amsterdam, Frans Blancard, and the curiously old-fashioned series of engraved designs by the Middelburg sculptor Geerard de Grendel published in Augsburg around 1745-1755 include two highly fanciful examples (Rococo in Nederland, p. 183, fig. VII.8, and cat. no. 58). One of these, decorated with dragons and fountains, has the same arrangement of two frontally carved legs as the present example; it stresses the fact that these benches were meant to function as an architectural feature in a garden, intended to be seen from afar.
Although garden benches were made by fully trained sculptors, few rococo examples are known that include a figurative relief in the manner of the present piece. This marks it out as a particularly ambitious commission, doubtless created to harmonise with marble garden urns likewise carved with figures. By the middle of the 18th century those had largely been supplanted by purely ornamental vases, another indication for the relatively early date of the present bench.
We are grateful to Dr Reinier Baarsen for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.