LATE 18TH EARLY 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF JAMES WYATT (1746-1813)

The design of this statuary marble chimneypiece, in the manner of the neo-classical architect-designer, James Wyatt (d. 1813), is very similar to that of a chimneypiece almost certainly by Wyatt at Westport House, County Mayo, in the Morning or Toilet-room. The architect for this property built in 1732 was German-born Richard Cassells but the house was further extended and the interiors completed by Wyatt and his son, Benjamin, in c. 1778 (RIBA Library Drawings & Archives Collections, Ref. No. RIBA6999). The present example is also related to chimney pieces at Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, where the interior scheme is by Wyatt, in particular the chimney piece in the Drawing Room, although this room was modified in the mid-19th century ('Heveningham Hall', The Antique Collector, August, 1968, p. 154).