拍品專文
These majestic frames were reputedly acquired from Stowe House, Buckinghamshire. The princely seat of the Temples, later Barons Cobham and Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, Stowe was undoubtedly one of the greatest treasure houses of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Although these frames are not recorded in either Christie's sale catalogue of 1848 - lasting a remarkable 37 days - or Jackson Stopps' sales of July 1921 (24 days) or October 1922 (4 days), their character is quintessentially that of Stowe and as they would almost certainly have been listed in such inventories by artist and picture, their frames are sadly overlooked.
Certainly Stowe was hung with numerous Royal portraits, including the presentation portrait of Grand Duke Cosimo III, given to Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Bt., which was amongst the 'Five Pictures' at Stowe admired by Celia Fiennes in the early 1690s (C. Morris ed., The Journeys of Celia Fiennes, London 1947, p.29).
Moreover, the iconographical language of these frames corresponds directly with the military aspirations of Sir Richard Temple, Baron Cobham (d.1749). Along with five of Marlborough's Generals, he was presented with the Art of War Series of Tapestries woven at Brussels between 1706-12 which he hung in The Great Parlour in picture-frame borders with coats of arms and crests.
Although these frames do, therefore, directly align with Cobham's taste, their fluid Baroque form also corresponds to the Italian acquisitions of Richard, 1st Duke of Buckingham (d.1839) and his son Richard, 2nd Duke (d.1889). These included the celebrated furnishings from the Doge's Palace, Venice, which Signor Gasparoni, a Milanese 'dealer in curiosities', had purchased in 1834 and shipped to London to be disposed of by Messrs. Town and Emmanuel. As Joseph Nash's watercolour of The Grand Drawing Room at Stowe, commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1845 records, Buckingham's taste for ornately carved Italian furniture was confidently eclectic. As Elizabeth George noted in her diary for 23 January 1845 - 'Everything was splendid - magnificent...The profusion of rich and costly objects of Art and decoration at first astonished,..Everything in the way of furniture seemed to be carved and inlaid, gilded wood...noble mirrors in rich, carved frames..'.
It is possible that lot 106 of day 21 of the 1848 sale, which was a portrait of Christian VII presented by the King of Denmark to Stowe in 1768, could refer to one of these frames. The Danish Royal Collection at Rosenburg has several large and heavily carved frames of this nature. The type of carving, which reflects the late 17th Century is, however, surprising if it was given as a present in 1768.
Their decoration is based on designs by the Roman Filippo Passarini, who published his Nuove Invenzioni d'Ornamenti in 1698, and on those of Giovanni Giardini, who published Disegni diversi inventati da Giovanni Giardini da Forli, argentiere del Palazzo apostolico e Fonditore della Real Camerea in 1714.
Conceived in the 17th Century 'Roman' or 'antique' manner, these frames were probably executed as picture frames for portraits celebrating a marriage. The triumphal bejewelled medallion frame, comprising a peace trophy of arms ensigned with a crown guarded by lions issuing from palm-twined cornucopiae and symbolising Ceres' triumph as goddess of Peace and Plenty, is borne by Love displaying Hercules' club and recalling his power in the enslavement of that mighty hero.
Its companion frame, ensigned with an Imperial crown and wreathed by palm and laurel branches, is tied by a medallion-chain that displays ancient heroes accompanying a couple's jewelled portrait-medallion with an Imperial crown, and borne by Love's displaying banners with palm-enriched escutcheons and trumpeting the fame of probably the Medici's. In addition its stately drapery reveals Love's triumph with Cupid and Psyche attending Venus' enflamed heart-altar.
Certainly Stowe was hung with numerous Royal portraits, including the presentation portrait of Grand Duke Cosimo III, given to Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Bt., which was amongst the 'Five Pictures' at Stowe admired by Celia Fiennes in the early 1690s (C. Morris ed., The Journeys of Celia Fiennes, London 1947, p.29).
Moreover, the iconographical language of these frames corresponds directly with the military aspirations of Sir Richard Temple, Baron Cobham (d.1749). Along with five of Marlborough's Generals, he was presented with the Art of War Series of Tapestries woven at Brussels between 1706-12 which he hung in The Great Parlour in picture-frame borders with coats of arms and crests.
Although these frames do, therefore, directly align with Cobham's taste, their fluid Baroque form also corresponds to the Italian acquisitions of Richard, 1st Duke of Buckingham (d.1839) and his son Richard, 2nd Duke (d.1889). These included the celebrated furnishings from the Doge's Palace, Venice, which Signor Gasparoni, a Milanese 'dealer in curiosities', had purchased in 1834 and shipped to London to be disposed of by Messrs. Town and Emmanuel. As Joseph Nash's watercolour of The Grand Drawing Room at Stowe, commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1845 records, Buckingham's taste for ornately carved Italian furniture was confidently eclectic. As Elizabeth George noted in her diary for 23 January 1845 - 'Everything was splendid - magnificent...The profusion of rich and costly objects of Art and decoration at first astonished,..Everything in the way of furniture seemed to be carved and inlaid, gilded wood...noble mirrors in rich, carved frames..'.
It is possible that lot 106 of day 21 of the 1848 sale, which was a portrait of Christian VII presented by the King of Denmark to Stowe in 1768, could refer to one of these frames. The Danish Royal Collection at Rosenburg has several large and heavily carved frames of this nature. The type of carving, which reflects the late 17th Century is, however, surprising if it was given as a present in 1768.
Their decoration is based on designs by the Roman Filippo Passarini, who published his Nuove Invenzioni d'Ornamenti in 1698, and on those of Giovanni Giardini, who published Disegni diversi inventati da Giovanni Giardini da Forli, argentiere del Palazzo apostolico e Fonditore della Real Camerea in 1714.
Conceived in the 17th Century 'Roman' or 'antique' manner, these frames were probably executed as picture frames for portraits celebrating a marriage. The triumphal bejewelled medallion frame, comprising a peace trophy of arms ensigned with a crown guarded by lions issuing from palm-twined cornucopiae and symbolising Ceres' triumph as goddess of Peace and Plenty, is borne by Love displaying Hercules' club and recalling his power in the enslavement of that mighty hero.
Its companion frame, ensigned with an Imperial crown and wreathed by palm and laurel branches, is tied by a medallion-chain that displays ancient heroes accompanying a couple's jewelled portrait-medallion with an Imperial crown, and borne by Love's displaying banners with palm-enriched escutcheons and trumpeting the fame of probably the Medici's. In addition its stately drapery reveals Love's triumph with Cupid and Psyche attending Venus' enflamed heart-altar.