A PAIR OF GEORGE III BLUE JOHN OBELISKS
A PAIR OF GEORGE III BLUE JOHN OBELISKS
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A PAIR OF GEORGE III BLUE JOHN OBELISKS

LATE 18TH / EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details
A PAIR OF GEORGE III BLUE JOHN OBELISKS
LATE 18TH / EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Each of tapering form on square plinths bordered with white and Ashford black marble
25 ½ in. (65 cm.) high

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Peter Horwood
Peter Horwood

Lot Essay

Sir Nathaniel Curzon (d. 1804) displayed similar 'pyramids' beside the 'marble vases' on the 'Corridore' chimneypiece at Kedleston, Derbyshire, where they were recorded in 1804 (Kedleston Hall, Guide Book, 1977, p. 14). Curzon did much to promote the extraction of blue john from Derbyshire mines in the 18th century, and its architectural and decorative use. In 1762 he introduced a tablet of Blue John, known as 'Miller's Vein', in the chimneypiece frieze of his State Apartment at Kedleston. As a consequence, a small industry grew around the mines producing artefacts and `objets d'art' for eighteenth century tourists who visited the spa towns of Derbyshire.

The industrialist Matthew Boulton bought one such obelisk in 1768, when he wrote that he had found a use for 'Blew John...which is proper for turning into vases'; and obelisk drawings also feature in his Pattern Book (N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pp. 30, 138 and fig. 166). Similar obelisks are displayed in the Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Derbyshire.

A similar pair of obelisks was sold from the collection of Akko van Acker, Christie's, London, 19 May 2016, lot 237 (£30,000 including premium).

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