CIRCA 1775

This blue-john 'mantelpiece garniture' urn reflects the later 18th century Pompeian Etruscan fashion for room decoration with Grecian urns and Roman vases instead of Chinese porcelain. Manufactures from the blue-john mines in Treak Cliff, near Castleton, were increasingly popularized by the George III 'Roman' fashion for Columbaria vase-chambers introduced during the 1760s.

A similar but slightly larger (15 inch) oval urn, originally from Stoneleigh Abbey and featuring a band of Vitruvian scroll, was sold from the Simon Sainsbury Collection, The Creation of an English Arcadia, Christie's, London, 18 June 2008, lot 93 (/P127,250 incl. premium).