ITALIAN, LATE 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY

Syon Lodge was built by Robert Adam for the 2nd Duke of Northumberland in 1770 as a Dower House on the northern border of the Syon estate. In 1928 it was bought by Bert Crowther from the 7th Duke. Crowther was an inveterate collector and dealer and Syon Lodge quickly became home to an astonishing range of beautiful antique objects and drew a glittering array of the rich and famous, including Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney. Just before his death in 1952, and in the same year Michael Inchbald acquired the present bust, King George VI and his Queen Elizabeth visited Crowther purchasing chimneypieces for the Royal Lodge at Windsor and a life-size statue of Father Time for the gardens at Sandringham.