A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED STEEL AND CAST-IRON FIREGRATE

The Grecian-pedimented and palm-flowered grate is of sarcophagus form, derived from the Pantheonic 'Tomb of Agrippa' (illustrated in E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, fig. 112). This pattern of 'Agrippa' stove or firegrate featured in a sketch by George Bullock, [inscribed in his hand 'Plan of a Stove in Dining Room and Oak Study'] while employed at Tew Park, Oxfordshire around 1816 (C. Gilbert and A. Wells- Cole, The Fashionable Fire Place, Temple Newsam House, Leeds, 1985, p. 30, cat. no. 22). It is designed in the French Antique fashion, popularised by connoisseur collector Thomas Hope in his guide Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807. A firegrate of this model was sold by the late Major Eustace Robb, Tew Park, Great Tew, Oxfordshire, 27-29 May 1987, lot 27.