A GEORGE III CARVED IVORY RELIEF ON GLASS OF A THREE-MASTED MAN-O'-WAR

The art of micro-carving in ivory reached the height of its popularity and technical virtuosity in the final decades of the 18th century. Practised by a small number of highly specialised sculptors in the capitals of Europe, these reliefs were set under rock-crystal or glass and placed into jewellery, onto small boxes, or were framed as independent works of art. The present lot is an example of the delicate, intricate micro carving that was popular in the kunstkammers of Europe's nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of the sculptors who practised the art of micro-carving gained considerable fame - the German born partners Stephany and Dresch, working in London and Bath in the late 18th century, sold their ivories to members of fashionable English society, exhibited a number of times at the Royal Academy, and were named by George III of England, 'Sculptors in Miniature on Ivory to their Majesties'.