CIRCA 1820

The Grecian Corinthian columns, with palm-wreathed and lion-pawed plinths, are conceived in the early 19th Century antique manner and relate to Parisian glass-gloved lamp patterns issued by Maison Chopin of the rue St. Denis (J. Bourne and V. Brett, Lighting in the Domestic Interior, London, 1991, fig. 465). Their bacchic feet and theatrical masks relate to those of a bronze vase pattern issued in Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1807 (pl. XXXV). The masks also appear on a pair of ormolu photophores, in the manner of William Bullock, brother of the celebrated cabinet-maker, George Bullock, sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 4 July 1997, lot 7.