GRECIAN SPHINXES

Details

COADE, LAMBETH, CIRCA 1785-1800
GRECIAN SPHINXES
Pair of coadestone sphinxes; each with its hair tied in a chignon, a crescent to the front, with an elaborate saddle-cloth draped over its back, on rectangular bases, signed COADE LAMBETH, wide with some restoration
79 cm. high; 103 cm. long; 42 cm. wide
81 cm. high; 108 cm. long; 45 cm.
(2)

Provenance

Christie's, London, Clifton Little Venice, Garden Statuary, Architectural and Decorative Furnishings, 6 June 1994, lot 182, where acquired.

Literature

A Descriptive Catalogue of Coade's Artificial Stone Manufactory, London, 1784, no. 55.
A. Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, 1980, pp. 267-8.

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer

ahume-sayer@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2696

Lot Essay

Eleanor Coade's 'Artificial Stone Manufactory' was established at King's Arms Stairs, Lambeth in 1769. Eleanor Coade was one of a handful of independent women in the eighteenth century who began their own businesses and managed them successfully. The business produced sculpture and decorative architectural ornament in a material - today referred to as 'Coade' stone - which could be cast in complex forms and which was highly resistant to damage from the elements. Heraldic animals were popular ornaments for the gate-piers of aristocratic homes and for this purpose the Coade factory produced the present Grecian Sphinxes of female form with a female head adorned with a small tiara, with a voluptuous bosom and a leonine body covered with a embroidered saddlecloth. Nine other pairs have been located of this model (I. Roscoe ed., A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, 2009, p. 287), including at Trent Park, Hertfordshire (1785), Callender House, Falkirk (circa 1787-8), Croome Court, Worcestershire (1795) which were probably purchased by James Wyatt for the gardens, Tullynally House, Ireland (by 1799) and Gosford House, Lothian (circa 1800).

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