EARLY 19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE DESIGN BY GEORGE BULLOCK

An unsigned pencil drawing at Tew, but inscribed in George Bullock's hand 'Plan of Stove in Dining Room and Oak Study' appears to confirm the attribution to George Bullock (1778-1818) of the distinctive 'sarcophagus' design this firegrate is based upon (C. Gilbert and A. Wells-Cole, The Fashionable Fire Place, Temple Newsam House, Leeds, 1985, p. 30, cat. no. 22). The Grecian-pedimented and palm-flowered grate is of sarcophagus form, derived from the Pantheonic 'Tomb of Agrippa' (illustrated in E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, fig. 112). It is designed in the French Antique fashion, popularised by the connoisseur/collector Thomas Hope in his guide Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807. The Tenterden Street cabinet-maker and upholsterer, George Bullock was employed at Tew Park shortly after it was purchased in 1815 by Matthew Robinson Boulton. Bullock had previously opened 'Grecian Rooms' in both Liverpool and London's Piccadilly, and had executed the prestigious commission to furnish the St. Helena residence granted by George, Prince Regent to the defeated Emperor Napoleon. Four grates directly copying the unsigned drawing were sold from Tew Park at the 1987 Christie's house sale: lots 4, 27, 48 and 155. One of these grates was subsequently sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 23 November 2006, lot 66. A grate following the same pattern is illustrated in situ in the Library at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire in Country Life, 31 March 1906, p. 454.