A pair of Regency plaster figural pier lamps, early 19th century

The sculptor Humphrey Hopper attended the Royal Academy schools and in 1803 was awarded a Gold Medal for his 'Death of Meleager'. His most famous work is the marble monument to General Hay in St. Paul's Cathedral which was commissioned by the House of Commons in 1814. Hopper exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1799 and 1834, and together with busts, statues and other figures in marble, produced a wide range of ornamental figures in plaster and terracotta intended as supports for lamps, candelabra and clocks.
In 1812 Hopper made plaster statues, probably representing four of the Muses, for the Ballroom of the County Hall in Lewes (R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, rev. ed., London, n.d., p. 209).