Live Auction 7439Important English Furniture
A GEORGE III SIENA AND WHITE MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECE
Lot 715 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 

A GEORGE III SIENA AND WHITE MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECE

CIRCA 1780, THE CENTRAL FRIEZE AND TABLET REUSED

Closed22 November 2007

Price Realised

GBP 60,500

Considering selling a similar item?

Discover its value with a complimentary estimate from our specialists.

More Information

How to sell

A GEORGE III SIENA AND WHITE MARBLE CHIMNEYPIECE
CIRCA 1780, THE CENTRAL FRIEZE AND TABLET REUSED
The moulded inverted breakfront shelf above a dentilled cornice, the frieze with central tablet depciting Ceres reclining and attended by two youths gathering corn, flanked by sunflower medallions and further oval medallions with youths at each end, the scrolled Ionic pilaster supports with herms bearing palms above arabesques and lyres and horns linked by laurel garlands, the central tablet, frieze and two paterae reused from another, possibly later chimneypiece
59 in. (150 cm.) high; 73 in. (185.5 cm.) wide; 9 in. (22 cm.) deep
Aperture: 43 in. x 43½ in. (109 x 110 cm.)

Specialist note

The statuary marble chimneypiece, richly sculpted in bas-relief and embellished with golden Siena tablets, is designed in the George III Roman fashion adopted around 1780 by architects such as Thomas Leverton. The central tablet celebrates Summer, with the reclining figure of the harvest-deity Ceres attended by youths gathering corn, while the medallions above the pilasters depict another youth with corn and a companion bearing a thyrus and tazza emblematic of the wine and harvest deity Bacchus. The triumph of Apollo and lyric poetry is evoked by the laurel and palm-flowered Grecian Ionic pilasters, which are sculpted with poetic trophies, uniting Cupid's dart with lyre and horns, and suspended by laurel-garlands beneath arabesque palm-bearing victory herms.