Lot Essay
This lantern is almost identical to that from Castle Leslie, Ireland, sold Christie's London, 22 June 1989, lot 40. In its overall composition, these lanterns are closely related to that in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York (F.J.B Watson, The Wrightsman Collection Furniture, Boxes, New York, 1970, vol. III, p. 67, no. 304) as well as a further lantern in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Bowhill, Selkirk. A simpler balustraded drum lantern was delivered to the chteau de Fontainebleau around 1780 (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés du XVIII Siècle, Paris, 1987, fig.106).