Premier Items

Stock: 6625

An exceptionally rare chimneypiece by Robert Adam.

This chimneypiece is an exciting new discovery. Commissioned by General John Burgoyne (1722-1792) for the eating room of his London residence at 10 Hertford St, Mayfair, it was designed by Robert Adam to embrace the Italian Neoclassicism both patron and architect had enjoyed during their time in Italy.

Burgoyne was a professional soldier, and despite being the son of a Baronet he relied on his military income. In 1743, he eloped with Lady Charlotte Stanley and as a result the pair were denied Lady Charlotte’s dowry, forcing them into and an extended trip to Europe to avoid their creditors in 1749.

It was in Aix-en-Provence that the couple struck up a friendship with the young architect, meeting him again in Florence, and visiting him at his apartments in Rome on several occasions. When their fortune had been restored by the generosity of Lady Charlotte’s father, the couple sought an architect to design the interiors for their new home they had leased on Hertford St. Naturally they engaged their friend Robert Adam, who set about designing the interior mouldings, chimneypieces and furniture for the fourteen rooms. Many of the drawings for these interiors survive in the Sir John Soane archive. At this time, Robert Adam was still Architect of the King’s Works, so Burgoyne had employed the very best architect to finish his new home.

Adam’s grand tour similarly started in France, and continued to Florence and Rome, where he met Giovanni Battista Piranesi, an established architect and printmaker known for his fantastical drawings of ancient ruins and precise interpretation of classicism. The pair enjoyed many drawing excursions together, the product of which became an essential marketing tool for the young architect, who sent these sketches back to England to win business, which it did. Within five years of his return to England, Adam was swamped with work.

What makes this chimneypiece so interesting is undoubtedly its association and stylistic similarities with Piranesi, with whom Adam shared a close friendship. We know for certain that this chimneypiece was designed after Adam’s time in Rome, having been commissioned by Burgoynes in 1769. Interestingly, this is the date of publication for Piranesi’s volume of chimneypiece designs, his Diverse Manière Cammini, which comprises 62 fanciful designs designed to be a complete departure from the Italian neoclassicism which emerged in the Renaissance.

This chimneypiece is not only Italianate in design, it is also constructed very much in the Italian manner, utilising 4 large blocks of marble which were hewn into shape from the whole. In contrast, English chimneypiece construction of this period was more aligned with cabinetmaking, using sheets of marble that were joined together. Here, the tablet and endblocks have been let in, and it is perhaps the case that the chimneypiece was made in Italy under instruction from Robert Adam and was finished in England. The carving is exquisite and bears many similarities to a design Piranesi published in his volume. Simple in form, the shelf features a small egg and dart moulding above crisply carved dentil and leaf and dart mouldings. This is supported by a generous frieze, inset with panels of verde antico marble centred by an urnular tablet, and flanked by endblocks carved with candlestands, which also bear resemblance to Piranesi’s design. The verde antico is also inset on the jambs, and the opening is framed with more exquisitely carved leaf and dart, which continues around the footblocks. This chimneypiece is very substantial in size, and is a truly innovative piece of 18th century design, and a striking departure from other English chimneypieces of the same date.

English, c.1769.

Full provenance on request.

View our section showing the full range of our neo-classical chimneypieces

	Width	Height	Depth
External	79 1⁄4" 201.5 cms	56 1⁄8" 142.5 cms	8 7⁄8" 22.5 cms
Internal	50" 127 cms	40 5⁄8" 103.2 cms

Stock: 16641

A rare Scottish pine and composition chimneypiece by Richard Foster of Edinburgh. The chimneypiece was designed is profusely decorated in exquisite detail whilst maintaining the elegant restraint of a neoclassical chimneypiece. The reverse breakfront shelf with acanthine moulding rests above an undershelf studded with bellflowers which in turn is supported by tall endblocks, each decorated with an anchor on the sea bed. The coastal theme is echoed again on the extraordinary tablet, a celebration of the Scottish coast; profusely decorated with seaweeds and shells, all in high relief. The flutes on the frieze are studded with little pinecones, just an exquisite detail. The frieze is supported by three-quarter columned jambs, with acanthine capitals. Scottish, c.1805.

Notes: Chimneypieces of this manufacture were a speciality of Richard Foster of Edinburgh and his son and examples survive not only in Scotland but also in the United States and Canada, where he seemed to create a strong market for them in the late 18th century. Richard Foster was born in Canonbie, the Scottish Borders, in 1755. At the age of fourteen, he was recorded as having a bank account in London, presumably as he was serving as an apprentice there, perhaps to the Adam Brothers as they too were in London at this time. In 1785 he returned to Edinburgh, working as a "joiner" and married to the daughter of a wealthy leather merchant. His chimneypieces were sold not only in Scotland, but in the USA, a bold move only a few years after American Independence was declared! This is perhaps why he avoided becoming a prominent figure in Scottish social and intellectual circles, as selling to Britain's former colonies would have been regarded as treachery in many cases. The pine and composition chimneypiece he perfected made the rational principles and beauty of classicism affordable to the growing mercantile and professional class emerging in the 18th century. These clients wished to express their cultural understanding through objects that conveyed the principles they admired, the chimneypiece was one such highly prized object. The Adam brothers (Robert and James) were well known for promoting their designs to the masses, and it is the pine and composition chimneypiece they made for the emerging middle class in Edinburgh that have become synonymous with the "Adam Style". However, Foster was a true master of the technique, and his designs are some of the most delicate and finely manufactured ever made. In the 1770s, the technique of applying a cast composition onto pine really took off in Scotland, especially with the construction of many new houses, such as those in Edinburgh's New Town. The process of cast composition can be described as essentially a thermo plastic mix of chalk, glue size, and other additives heated up to a precise temperature then pressed into wood or brimstone moulds. These could then be applied to a simple pine surround and painted if desired. Foster was commissioned to make designs unique to clients, so there may only be a single example of a particular design, but these usually incorporate existing decorative motifs.

View our section showing full range of neo-classical chimneypieces

	Width	Height	Depth
	70 1⁄8" 178 cms	59 3⁄8" 151 cms	7 7⁄8" 20 cms

Stock: 14250

A very fine and delicately carved Louis XVI antique French chimneypiece. The slender shelf rests over a frieze carved in low relief with Vitruvian scrolls amongst foliage, and set with a tablet carved with a portrait cameo and ribboned floral garland. The frieze is supported on corbel jambs with floral garlands. The fireplace has its original ornate cast iron insert, decorated with a bead and reel border, with a torchere and quiver motif.

French, mid 19th century.

View our collection of: Antique French chimneypieces inc. Louis XVI, French Empire fireplace mantels.

	width	height	depth
external	67 7⁄8" 172.4 cms	44 1⁄4" 112.5 cms	18 7⁄8" 47.9 cms
internal	47 3⁄8" 120.5 cms	34 1⁄4" 87 cms

Stock: 15910

An exceptional pair of large alabaster lidded vases in the manner of Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850). The lidded urns of baluster form, are finely carved from translucent alabaster the body of the vase depicting classical scenes, the lids topped with a fruiting finial, resting on the slender everted necks with egg and dart rim.
Italian, c.1820, with restorations.

Notes: Lorenzo Bartolini was born in Tuscany and studied in Florence and at the Officina Inghirami in Volterra, a workshop established in 1791 which produced alabaster sculpture and objects in the neoclassical style for Grand Tourist and other wealthy patrons. In 1797 he moved to Paris, where he became a close friend of Ingres and the favoured sculptor of Napoléon, who sent him to Carrara in 1807 to direct the Academy of Sculpture. Later he settled in Florence, where his Grand Tour patrons included Thomas Hope and the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

Lorenzo Bartolini began his career on high quality decorative urns and tazzi for visiting grand tourists. A series of 19 sketches with designs for such vases was published.

	Diameter	Height
	14 13⁄16" 37.5 cms	44 1⁄2" 113 cms
with wooden base		48 3⁄8" 123 cms

Stock: 6627

It is hard to overstate the importance of this chimneypiece. Carved in a fine-grained limestone around 1750 by the most successful architect of 18th century Britain, it is a rare relic of a body of work that has otherwise been lost to time. The research undertaken suggests this grand chimneypiece was once in the dining room of 36 Lincoln’s Inn, one of two grand houses designed by the architect on this street. This building was demolished in 1859, whilst number 35 was lost in the blitz.

The design of this chimneypiece would have perfectly suited a dining room, impressive in scale, with Bacchus at the centre and grapevines carved in high relief along the frieze and jambs. In the Survey of London in 1912 there is a record for a remarkably similar stone chimneypiece of this style in the basement of 35 Lincoln’s Inn, having been moved from the principal room when the building was reconfigured for office use. As the properties were designed as a pair, it is conceivable, and indeed extremely likely that these chimneypieces were too.

Few recognise the name of this great architect despite the fame and wealth he enjoyed during his lifetime - which surpassed that of his peers we so revere today - figures such as Robert Adam, Sir John Soane and William Kent. With the recent scholarship of architectural historians such as Marcus Binney and Christopher Hussey, Robert Taylor and his work has come into focus once more.

Robert Taylor came to architecture from sculpture. This is evident in his work which was so full of life, and a departure from the stark Palladianism which had gripped Britain in the decades before him. An apprentice of Henry Cheere, who held positions such as the Sculptor of Oxford University and Carver for Westminster Abbey during his long career, his understanding of the Rococo would have been learnt from his master, who had embraced the lightness of the style in a number of funerary monuments and indeed chimneypieces commissioned across England.

Taylor was born into his career, as his father was a stonemason who sponsored his son from a young age. His father funded his apprenticeship to Cheere, and also a trip to Rome, but sadly died soon after, forcing his son to return to London, penniless and seeking a career in stone carving. He did just that, and flourished within not only monumental masonry, but as an architect, working on projects such as the Bank of England and stately homes; he was also appointed architect of the King’s Works in 1769. His style developed from his sculpture into architecture, where he introduced a light, organic quality that he had learnt from Cheere during his education in stone.

The English Rococo style was merely a fleeting moment in Georgian England, perhaps due to the great marketing prowess of the Adam Brothers, who built and filled homes of varying status with their interpretation of neo-classicism. This popular new style proliferated through their design treatise, entitled, ‘Works in Architecture’, published over three volumes, cementing the brothers as the tastemakers of Georgian Britain. Taylor published no such volume, and instead sought commissions that were financially rewarding. This was starkly opposed to the Adam brother’s enthusiasm for grand redevelopment projects and large bank loans, which would ultimately lead to their demise.

Ultimately, Taylor’s practice was so successful that on his death, he left an estate of £180,000 — in contrast, William Kent left £10,000, James Gibbs £25,000, and Christopher Wren £50,000. Sadly, much of his architectural output is now lost, destroyed as a result of WWII bombings, demolition and redevelopment. As a result, his name faded into relative obscurity in the years following his death, and his legacy and reputation has only come to light in recent years.

If you wish to read more about this spectacular chimneypiece and its designer, please send us an email and we would be delighted to send you the relevant publication.

View our collection of: Antique English Regency chimneypieces inc. George IV fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	88 5⁄8" 225 cms	67 11⁄16" 172 cms	11 13⁄16" 30 cms
Internal	61 5⁄8" 156.5 cms	50" 127 cms

Stock: 16687

A rare 17th century crewelwork wall hanging of superb quality. This panel is meticulously hand embroidered in worsted 'crewl' wool with the 'tree of life' decoration, which was enormously popular in this period.

This hanging still has its original backing, which has been professionally conserved, lined, and fitted with a hanging rod. It is likely that it once part of a set of bed hangings.

A brief history of crewel work:

The Bayeaux Tapestry is the earliest extant example of this embroidery technique, which was at the time of its manufacture - the 11th century - peculiar to Britain. The scene spans over 230 feet in length and was intended to be viewed as a continuous narrative. It is certainly one of the grandest works of embroidery of the medieval period.
However, it was centuries later that crewelwork gained great popularity in the domestic sphere, popularised by Elizabeth I, who was a great patron of the arts. It was also under her rule that the British East India Company was founded in 1600, and it saw the arrival of colourful palampores and chintzes from India, which hugely influenced the designs for crewelwork, with stylised leaves and exotic flowers being used more frequently after this period.

In the Jacobean period, this passion for crewelwork of this style was evident in almost every affluent home, where panels were used as bed hangings, curtains and door drapes.

The popularity for crewelwork endured until the early 19th century, when machine made embroideries emerged.

	Width	Height	Depth
	59 13⁄16" 152 cms	80 1⁄4" 204 cms	0 3⁄8" 1 cms

Stock: 16673

An extraordinarily fine and large George II pier mirror in the manner of Thomas Johnson (1723-1778). The giltwood frame is finely carved, embracing the asymmetry of the Rococo style, with c scrolls, rocaille, waterfalls and acanthine motifs, surmounted by a ho-ho bird. This exquisite frame encloses the original plate, which has been later re-silvered, but you will notice the undulations of the original plate.

English, c.1760.

Please note that the backboards were likely replaced when the mirror plate was re-silvered. Awaiting further research.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height	Depth
	28 11⁄16" 73 cms	67 1⁄8" 170.5 cms	4 11⁄16" 12 cms

Stock: 6613

An exceptional Louis XV Rococo fireplace in dramatically figured breche violette marble of grand proportions. This is perhaps one of the most magnificent French Rococo chimneypieces we have had in our collection. The moulded serpentine shelf rests on the wide frieze, also of serpentine from, and is boldly carved with a central rocaille motif and panels. This carving is echoed in the endblocks, which are mounted above beautifully bold Rococo jambs.

French, 19th century.

View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	79 11⁄16" 202.5 cms	51 3⁄16" 130 cms	15 11⁄16" 40 cms
Internal	59 1⁄8" 150 cms	42 1⁄4" 107.5 cms

Stock: 16694

A fine and large early polychrome Delft covered vase in the Oriental taste. Decorated with panels depicting birds perching within flowering chrysanthemum branches, this vase is topped with the most charming of covers, complete with a cat finial!
It is rare to have a fine Delft vase of this scale and date.

Dutch, c.1700, the underside with makers' mark for DE GRIEKSCHE A.

Photographed before restoration.

Notes: In 1658, Wouter van Eenhoorn opened his pottery in the former brewery known as the 'De Griex A' (The Greek A) His company was soon supplying an international market with contacts in London, Hamburg, Stockholm and in 1674 Rouen. In 1678, his son took over the business, and the firm started supplying the Royal House of Orange. Successive generations expanded the business, and they supplied the British monarchs William and Mary as well as their wealthy courtiers. At this time, their pottery was signed AK, which we see on this vase. The factory closed in the early 19th century.

Awaiting further research.

View our collection of: decorative antiques and furnishings.

	Diameter	Height
	11" 28 cms	22 13⁄16" 58 cms

Stock: 6622

A rare fireplace insert by Thomas Jeckyll for Barnard Bishop and Barnard. Epitomising the Aesthetic movement style, the insert is mounted with a cast brass panel decorated with Jeckyll's signature use of Japanese mons, but the most striking decoration is of course the handpainted tiles on a burnt orange ground, decorated with birds of paradise perching on stylised branches. A rare survival of extraordinary beauty.

English, circa 1870. Notes: Barnard, Bishop and Barnards were at the heart of Norwich's iron industry, and the company gained an international reputation after their collaboration with Thomas Jeckyll. Jeckyll’s associations with a group of London artists – notably James Abbott McNeill Whistler – made him a key figure in the Anglo-Japanese Aesthetic Movement. Jeckyll used japonaise designs for Barnards’ fireplaces while his sunflower motif came to symbolise the Aesthetic Movement.

View our collection of: Antique Fire grates and Register grates.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	38" 96.5 cms	38" 96.5 cms	8" 20.3 cms
Internal	18 3⁄8" 46.7 cms	28 1⁄2" 72.5 cms

Stock: 6619

An ornately carved Louis XVI , Rococo style fireplace surround in white Carrara Marble, with panelled returns and circular hinged gilt brass ventilation ports.
French late 19th century.

View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	59 3⁄8" 151 cms	41 1⁄2" 105.5 cms	17 1⁄4" 44 cms
Internal	45 1⁄8" 114.5 cms	31 7⁄8" 81 cms

Stock: 9240

A grand and impressive Palladian style chimneypiece in finely carved Portland Stone. The wide shelf carved in high relief with an undershelf of repeating acanthus leaf motif, over boldly scaled egg and dart over lambs tongue detail. The main ingrounds carved with continuous guilloche motif. The whole is supported on large, sturdy footblocks.
Provenance: Removed from a building in the City of London.
English, late 19th century.

Link to a section showing full range of similar/related neo-classical chimneypieces

	Width	Height	Depth
External	112 13⁄16" 286.5 cms	87 5⁄8" 222.5 cms	17 7⁄8" 45.5 cms
Internal	65 3⁄16" 165.7 cms	63 11⁄16" 161.7 cms

Stock: 16505

A most beautiful Louis XV chimneypiece in a dramatically veined campan mélange marble, in many ways surpassing the beauty of breche violette. The veining of khaki greens and deep violet ripples across the peachy base tone, it really is remarkably unique. The moulded shelf rests over a panelled serpentine frieze which is centred by a boldly carved Rococo shell cartouche. This is echoed on the endblocks which are mounted above the canted console jambs.

French, mid-19th century.

Campan marble comes from the high French Pyrenees, where it has been quarried since Antiquity. The area produces a variety of beautiful, richly veined coloured marbles, such as Campan Gran Mélange, Campan Vert, Ribbon Campan and the deep red Rouge Griotte. These were much prized and used in the apartments in Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI for chimney pieces and wall panels. Campan Vert and Campan Gran Mélange are extensively used on the walls of the Escalier de la Reine (the Queen’s stairs) Versailles.

View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	59 13⁄16" 152 cms	46" 116.8 cms	15 11⁄16" 40 cms
Internal	41 7⁄8" 106.5 cms	37 13⁄16" 96 cms

Stock: 16566

A rare pair of very fine Louis XV marble fireplaces in a beautifully veined breche voilette marble. On each, the serpentine shelf is mounted over the serpentine frieze, beautifully carved with a central acanthine cartouche, which in turns rests on generous console jambs, their side returns fitted with fine brass vents.

It is extraordinarily rare to have an original pair of fireplaces of such quality.

French, mid-19th century.

Provenance: A fine house in Italy.

Outer footblock to footblock width 61" 155cms

View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	63 13⁄16" 162 cms	44 1⁄8" 112 cms	17 1⁄4" 44 cms
Internal	48 7⁄8" 124.3 cms	36 7⁄8" 93.8 cms

Stock: 16544

A very fine Piedmontese giltwood pier mirror. This beautiful mirror has a wonderfully patinated arched mercury plate, which is enclosed by a slender marginal plate of the same glass. The refined rocaille frame is topped by the most magnificent pierced scrollwork crest, and the whole is raised on sweeping acanthus feet.

Piedmont, c.1750.

This mirror would be magnificent over a fireplace, or a console table.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height	Depth
	35 13⁄16" 91 cms	71 11⁄16" 182 cms	2 3⁄8" 6 cms

Stock: 16556

A rare pair of large cast iron Handyside urns after the the Medici Vase. These urns were manufactured by the renowned Andrew Handyside & Co Foundry, and as illustrated in the catalogue, are a near pair, with a different subject to the bas-relief friezes. The right is a faithful copy to the original Medici Vase, now on display at the Uffizi in Florence. Both are mounted on their original pedestals.

English, c.1851.

Notes: The Handyside Foundry exhibited this model at the Great Exhibition of 1851, as it was, and still remains, one of the most popular subjects from antiquity.

Having returned from his uncle's engineering business in Russia, the young engineer Andrew Handyside took over the Britannia iron works in Derby in 1848, a foundry that was known for the quality of its casting, owing to the fine sand that could be found in the region. He made a wide range of materials in cast iron, from garden ornaments, to iron buildings and bridges.

View our collection of: decorative antiques and furnishings

	Width	Height	Depth
Urn & Base	23 5⁄8" 60 cms	54 1⁄4" 138 cms	23 5⁄8" 60 cms
Base	19 1⁄4" 49 cms	24" 61 cms

Stock: 16541

An exceptionally fine and rare pair of Venetian giltwood mirrors or pier glasses. Mirrors of this type, especially those in an original pair are vanishingly rare. Their gilded giltwood frames take an organic form, the whole carved with rocaille, c-scrolls and floral embellishments, with a mirrored rocaille crest. This Rococo design encloses the more traditional frames that are the signature of the Venetian style, which in turn borders the most magnificently patinated original mercury plates.

Italian, c.1760.

Provenance: From a palazzo in Venice.

Notes: It is likely that this pair of mirrors was made on the island of Murano, known as the 'Isle of Glass'. It has been the centre of fine glassmaking for centuries.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height	Depth
Each	39 3⁄8" 100 cms	54 1⁄2" 138.5 cms	5 7⁄8" 15 cms

Stock: 15840

A large and rare neoclassical chimneypiece in a soft, honey toned sandstone. Very much in the manner of William Kent, and therefore Palladian in style, this grand chimneypiece bears a thick shelf carved with a bold egg and dart moulding and a delicately carved foliate undershelf. Both rest on a beautifully carved half-barrel frieze, with acanthus paterae carved in a cross-hatch arrangement, centred by a blank tablet. The half pilaster jambs with ionic capitals are carved with bead and reel details and enclose the flat crossette cornered ingrounds, with further egg and dart and leaf and dart mouldings.

English, mid-20th century.

Notes: William Kent was the preeminent architect of the early Georgian period and the father of Palladianism. His style was informed both by antiquity and the bold style of the Italian Baroque, which was introduced to him on his tour of Italy. He was the first British architect to consider the interior as part of the whole decorative scheme, and designed furniture and other the small details necessary to complete a room.

View our collection of: Antique Baroque Chimneypieces inc English, Italian, French, Flemish Bolection fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	75 1⁄2" 191.7 cms	59 13⁄16" 152 cms	12" 30.5 cms
Internal	41 1⁄4" 105 cms	46 3⁄16" 117.3 cms

Stock: 16138

A fine and rare set of Grand Tour plaster intaglios, individually mounted on dark green silk within their original mahogany and crossbanded satinwood case, which is fashioned as a false book. When the spine of the book is removed, the interior is revealed. Traces of marbled paper remain around three sides of the case, imitating the marbled finishes often seen on 18th century books. Some of the Intaglios have the impressed stamp for Nathaniel Marchant, who was the most well regarded gem engraver of the 18th century.
Sets such as these are very rare.

View our collection of: decorative antiques and furnishings.

	Width	Lenght
	9 13⁄16" 25 cms	15 3⁄8" 39 cms

Stock: 14549

A large, rare and imposing late George II English Rococo chimneypiece with strong Palladian influences carved in white Statuary Marble and inlaid with panels of Verde Tinos Marble. The panelled frieze, beneath a moulded serpentine shelf, is centred by a richly carved 'pelta' scroll cartouche with very finely carved trailing jasmine sprigs flanked on the endblocks by large C Scrolls. The generously scrolling, canted console jambs, with linked cartouche and acanthus detail, terminate in single hart's tongue fern fronds and are supported on simple foot blocks. Provenance: The Earls of Minto, Minto House, Roxburghshire, Scotland.
English, circa 1750-1760

Shown here with andirons SNo 10202 now sold.

Attributed to Sir Robert Taylor, but awaiting further research.

Minto House Notes:
This 18th century chimneypiece was selected by the 4th Earl of Minto to be installed in the Octagonal Drawing Room of Minto House by the decorators W. Turner Lord & Company, of 120 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London, whose estimate for the works was dated 18 September 1891. The tower of an earlier property had been incorporated by William Adam in his design for Minto House around 1740 and the House has subsequently undergone various expansions. One was carried our by Archibald Elliot at the beginning of the 19th century, it was further altered by William Playfair in 1837 and was finally enlarged by Robert Lorimer at the end of the 19th century. Minto House was owned by the Elliott family and the Earls of Minto for several centuries but from the mid 1960s it began to fall into disrepair and suffering from increasing neglect it slowly deteriorated to a state where it was finally demolished in 1992.

View our collection of: Antique Rococo Chimneypieces inc Louis XV English Scottish Chippendale Rococo fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	83 1⁄2" 212 cms	61" 155 cms	13" 33 cms
Internal	56 1⁄4" 143 cms	46 1⁄2" 118 cms

Stock: 16469

A fine George III giltwood and gesso wall mirror in the Chinese Chippendale style. The rectangular mirror plate is enclosed by a delicate frame embellished with c scrolls and trailing garlands, surmounted by a palm leaf pagoda.

English, c.1765.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height
	27 3⁄16" 69 cms	46 7⁄8" 119 cms

Stock: 16485

A very fine George III wall mirror, with a delicate giltwood frame embodying the lightness of the Chippendale style, with slender c scrolls, trailing foliage and an elegant crest. The frame encloses a very foxed mercury plate.

English, c.1760.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height	Depth
External	28" 71 cms	46 1⁄2" 118 cms	2 3⁄8" 6 cms

Stock: 16293

A pair of very fine and large nineteenth-century Northern Italian crystal chandeliers. The pair of eight branch chandeliers have elegant central stems mounted with silvered scalloped bowls which are hung with crisply cut prism drops, from which emanate elegant swan neck arms, strung with beads and drops. The chandeliers are crowned with beautiful canes of curled glass, hung with faceted glass drops.

Italian, c.1860.

Provenance: From a fine house in Turin.

View our collection of: Antique chandeliers.

	Diameter	Drop
	33 1⁄8" 84 cms	36 3⁄16" 92 cms

Stock: 15964

A very fine and large giltwood Venetian wall mirror. The frame is surmounted by a floral crest above an oval mirror plate etched with an urn of flowers, and this is supported by foliate scrolls and mirrored spandrels, which are engraved with bunches of grapes. The foliate scrollwork continues around the frame and this encloses eight exquisite marginal plates, each engraved with a slightly different subject, some with a musical theme. The corners are embellished with ruby glass behind an acanthus leaf, and this surrounds the original mercury plate. A very fine and rare mirror.

Italian, c.1790.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height	Depth
	48" 122 cms	74" 188 cms

Stock: 16297

A very large and fine 32 branch gilt brass chandelier hung with enormous faceted pear shaped glass drops. This grand chandelier is truly a statement piece, with two tiers of scrolling foliate arms emanating from a foliate baluster stem, strung with glass beads and drops. A statement chandelier of exceptional quality.
French, c.1890.

View our collection of: Antique chandeliers.

	Diameter	Drop
	48" 122 cms	52" 132 cms

Stock: 16228

A grand and monumental early Victorian trumeau chimneypiece in the Renaissance Revival style. The blockwork trumeau is centred by an armorial and rests on a large freize carved with floral spandrels in the Tudor Revival style, over cantilevered, moulded jambs. A fine fireplace best suited to a grand interior.

English, c.1860.

Provenance: Hinton Old Hall, Shropshire.

View our collection of: Antique Renaissance, Gothic Tudor Fireplace mantels and Chimneypieces: 1260 - 1600

	width	height	depth
External, inc. hearth	68 1⁄2" 174 cms	86" 218.5 cms	11 1⁄2" 29.3 cms
Internal	48" 122 cms	35 3⁄16" 89.5 cms

Stock: 16342

An exceptional giltwood Venetian wall mirror. The fine frame has strapwork cresting, pierced sides and apron, the whole carved with rocaille, c-scrolls and floral flourishes, enclosing the original mercury glass mirror plate, which is surmounted by an etched cartouche plate to the crest, decorated with a woman playing a lyre with a pastoral scene.

Venice, c.1780.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	width	height	depth
	48 3⁄8" 123 cms	63 13⁄16" 162 cms	2 3⁄8" 6 cms
Crest depth	6 1⁄2" 16.5 cms

Stock: 16337

An exceptional Gothic Revival stone chimneypiece from Woodchester Mansion. Carved from soft buff coloured Bath stone, this chimneypiece is a celebration of nature, with a floral undershelf beautifully carved in high relief. This rests on a frieze carved with five foliate panels. One panel is carved with a vine, the other a flowering lily, the central panel depicts two birds devouring grapes from a vine, the next, a British oak laden with acorns, and the final panel, a fruiting ivy.
This beautiful carving is surpassed only on the spandrels, where on one side it is carved with a grapevine, and on the other a serpent is shown within a fruiting tree, evoking the story of Eve. The jambs are deftly carved with floral paterae and grapevines over moulded footblocks.

This piece is an extraordinary survival from the unfinished Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire. By repute it was designed and made for the mansion but was never installed as the building project was left unfinished. AWN Pugin drew up early plans for this house, but the project was later taken on by Benjamin Bucknall. It is uncertain whether this chimneypiece was designed by Pugin, or was in fact designed by Bucknall, but it does share many stylistic similarities to the stonework throughout the rest of the house. Sadly after the patron of the project died, his Gothic vision was never realised in full.

English, c.1860

Provenance: Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire.

View our collection of: Antique Renaissance, Gothic Tudor Fireplace mantels and Chimneypieces: 1260 - 1600

	Width	Height	Depth
External	55 3⁄8" 140.7 cms	58 11⁄16" 149 cms	8" 20.3 cms
Internal	33 11⁄16" 85.5 cms	40 5⁄8" 103 cms

Stock: 16211

A very large and rare and heavy cast iron William IV fire grate, with a dramatic Rococo backplate and imposing andirons cast with ornate foliate decoration. A truly imposing piece and a very unusual design.

English, c.1830.

View our collection of: Antique fire grates and log baskets.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	40 3⁄16" 102 cms	39" 99 cms	18 7⁄8" 48 cms
Back Width	36" 91.5 cms

Stock: 16344

A fine and rare pair of 18th century George III wall mirrors with original mercury plates. Each plate is bordered by a giltwood frame of foliate design woven with c and s scrolls, very much in the Chippendale manner.

It is very rare to come across such a fine pair of mirrors of this date.
English, c.1760.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height
	26 13⁄16" 68 cms	49 5⁄8" 126 cms

Stock: 16294

A fine mid-eighteenth century Venetian giltwood wall mirror. The elegant mirror is profusely decorated with foliate c scrolls in the Rococo manner, with floral flourishes and an elegant finial above an additional mirror plate. With original mercury plates.

Northern Italian, c.1760.

View our collection of: Antique mirrors and console tables

	Width	Height	Depth
	36 13⁄16" 93.5 cms	55 1⁄8" 140 cms	9 1⁄4" 23.5 cms

Stock: 16273

A rare Irish chimneypiece of grand proportions in statuary marble. The generous moulded shelf rests over a wide panelled frieze which is mounted with a tablet of exceptional quality. It depicts a recumbent Poseidon, god of the sea, being drawn on a seashell chariot by hippocampi, all carved in an artful blend of high and low relief. This scene is flanked by the most glorious endblocks, each a crouching Aphrodite, situated within a scallop shell. These crouch above freestanding Doric columns. The strikingly simple elegance of the chimneypiece is a perfect foil for the beautifully carved tablet and spectacular endblocks.

Irish, c.1820.

Provenance: Raheen House, Raheen, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Southern Ireland. By repute, the chimneypiece was installed at Raheen House by the then owners of the house, the Burke family, circa 1889, when they apparently acquired it in lieu of a part payment for a warehouse. This commercial building was purchased by the Loreto Convent of Clonmel to be used as a religious school when their own school was damaged by fire.

View our section showing the full range of our neo-classical chimneypieces

	Width	Height	Depth
External	83 7⁄8" 213 cms	54 11⁄16" 139 cms	18 1⁄8" 46 cms
Internal	43 1⁄4" 110 cms	38 5⁄8" 98 cms

Stock: 16295

An exceptionally fine late Renaissance walnut cabinet from Tuscany. The two-part cabinet comprises an upper section of three cupboards concealing double shelves, and three drawers, divided by slender pilasters. The lower section is the inverse, and is supported on ionic capital feet. It also possesses early locks, and associated key.
This cabinet is characteristic of pieces that were made for the residences of Tuscan nobles during the late-Renaissance, and exhibits regional characteristics associated with furniture made in this region. Very few pieces of this quality survive from this period.

Italian, c.1590. With restorations, commensurate with age.

Villa Cenami, Lucca.

	Width	Height	Depth
	71 3⁄8" 181.4 cms	77" 195.5 cms	22 5⁄8" 57.3 cms

Stock: 8232

A very smart English Regency specimen marble chimneypiece in Kilkenny Black Fossil Marble inlaid with Breche Violette marble panels which have been cut and opened like a book to reveal symetrical veining. The oval plaque on the frieze and the flanking end blocks are of inlaid Convent Sienna Marble. English, circa 1820.

Link to: Antique English Regency chimneypieces inc. George IV fireplace mantels.

	Width	Height	Depth
External	69" 175.3 cms	55 11⁄16" 141.6 cms	6" 15.2 cms
Internal	43" 109.2 cms	42 1⁄2" 108 cms

Stock: 16230

A fine antique cut glass and gilt brass chandelier of exceptional quality of a tent and waterfall design, profusely hung with beads and prism drops, issuing eight scrolling foliate gilt brass arms.
English, mid-19th century.

View our collection of: Antique chandeliers.

	Diameter	Drop
	33 1⁄8" 84 cms	46 1⁄8" 117 cms