Lot 715
715
A GEORGE III SIENA AND WHITE MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECE
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 
A GEORGE III SIENA AND WHITE MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECE

CIRCA 1780, THE CENTRAL FRIEZE AND TABLET REUSED

Details
A GEORGE III SIENA AND WHITE MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECE
CIRCA 1780, THE CENTRAL FRIEZE AND TABLET REUSED
The moulded inverted breakfront shelf above a dentilled cornice, the frieze with central tablet depciting Ceres reclining and attended by two youths gathering corn, flanked by sunflower medallions and further oval medallions with youths at each end, the scrolled Ionic pilaster supports with herms bearing palms above arabesques and lyres and horns linked by laurel garlands, the central tablet, frieze and two paterae reused from another, possibly later chimneypiece
59 in. (150 cm.) high; 73 in. (185.5 cm.) wide; 9 in. (22 cm.) deep
Aperture: 43 in. x 43½ in. (109 x 110 cm.)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The statuary marble chimneypiece, richly sculpted in bas-relief and embellished with golden Siena tablets, is designed in the George III Roman fashion adopted around 1780 by architects such as Thomas Leverton. The central tablet celebrates Summer, with the reclining figure of the harvest-deity Ceres attended by youths gathering corn, while the medallions above the pilasters depict another youth with corn and a companion bearing a thyrus and tazza emblematic of the wine and harvest deity Bacchus. The triumph of Apollo and lyric poetry is evoked by the laurel and palm-flowered Grecian Ionic pilasters, which are sculpted with poetic trophies, uniting Cupid's dart with lyre and horns, and suspended by laurel-garlands beneath arabesque palm-bearing victory herms.

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