Sculpture

Fibre Glass Copies of Gilt Torcheres

Details

Date
Author / Artist
After James 'Athenian' Stuart
Dimensions
185cm
Material
Fibre Glass
Catalogue number
HBT.66
Current location
Marble Saloon

Four Fibre Glass copies of Gilt torcheres (Atheniennes): each with a bowl top in green applied leafage and ribbon garlands with Bacchanalian masks over three supports in the form of winged gryphons on leopards legs, spaced by leaf scroll brackets and tricorn platform, one with the base repaired, possibly later gilding. (5ft 8in high)(MB ref HB08AT01-04)

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Sculpture

Plaster Copies of 8 Marble Statues

Details

Date
Author / Artist
Dimensions
Material
Plaster
Catalogue number
HBT.67
Current location
Marble Saloon

Plaster copies of marble statues for the Marble Saloon: Meleager (6ft 10in); Augustus (6ft 7ins); Roman Consul (6ft 8in); Capitoline Venus (6ft 4ins); Apollo (7ft); Antinous (6ft 8ins); Urania, Muse of Astrology (7ft 1in); Hygeia (7ft ). From Gipsformerei at Berlin. (MB re HB15MH01-8)

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Sculpture

Mercury

Details

Date
2019
Author / Artist
After Giambologna
Dimensions
286cm high
Material
Bronze
Catalogue number
SHPT.19
Current location
North Hall

A contemporary recast, on a grey composite fluted plinth, 286cm overall. Located in the North Hall, and replacing an earlier copy that can be seen in ‘Her Majesty’s Departure from Stowe House’, published in the Illustrated London News.

Mercury is one of the most famous and most replicated works by Giambologna, emblem of Mannerist sculpture, conceived to be admired from every point of view. Mercury is resting with his left foot on the wind generated by the mouth of Zephyr, anticipating his ascent to the heavens. His heels are winged, he wears a winged helmet, and carries the caduceus.

Giambologna’s Mercury dates back to 1580 when it was made for the Ferdinando de Medici’s Villa and was located in various places in the Villa Medici in Rome, until it was moved to the Uffizi in 1780. It was moved to the Bargello National Museum in 1865 where it remains.

A bronze of Mercury may be seen in ‘Her Majesty’s Departure from Stowe House’ a drawing of the ‘English School’ published by the Illustrated London News.

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Furniture

Soane Side Table

Details

Date
1805
Author / Artist
Sir John Soane
Dimensions
143cm wide by 46cm deep by 92cm high
Material
Wood, Ivory
Catalogue number
HBT.102
Current location
Gothic Library

Matching side table designed by Sir John Soane, painted wood, faux marble top, ivory tracery, twin columns resting on incurved platform. The pair to this table may be found at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

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Furniture

Mid-Victorian Mahogany Side Table

Details

Date
Mid-19th century
Author / Artist
George II style
Dimensions
130cm by 17cm by 79cm
Material
Wood
Catalogue number
SS.4
Current location
Ante-Library

Mid-Victorian mahogany side table with frieze drawer on cabriole legs with paw feet, 4ft 3in.

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Furniture

Pair of Torchères

Details

Date
Late-1700s
Author / Artist
After James 'Athenian' Stuart
Dimensions
185cm high
Material
Wood
Catalogue number
SS.8.1-2
Current location
Museum

Pair of gilt wood torcheres, after a design by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, shallow bowls, with applied leafage and ribbon garlands, with bacchanalian masks over three supports, in the form of gryphons, on three leopard monopods, incurved triform base.These remarkable ‘atheniennes’ display an almost archaeological approach to furniture design; inspired by the tripod stand discovered in the Temple of Isis at Pompeii, which was displayed in the Museum of Antiquities at Portici, a well-trodden route for gentlemen on their Grand Tour. However, the adoption of the new Neo-Classical aesthetic may draw on sources rather closer to home.The ‘athenienne’ or torchère form was adopted by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart for the Painted Room at Spencer House, London, generally considered to be the first fully integrated Neo-Classical interior in England. Clearly inspired by Roman painted interiors such as those which Stuart himself saw on his visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1748, classical references punctuate every aspect of the scheme: the chimneypiece was copied in part from the famous Aldobrandini wedding, the frieze was taken from the Erechtheion in Athens, the doorcases taken from the Incantada at Salonnika and the columnar screen from the Temple of Fortuna Virilia in Rome. It is easy to imagine that Richard Grenville, 2nd Earl Temple and his nephew and heir would have been familiar with Stuart’s scheme via their near neighbours the Spencer’s, furthermore a firm connection with Stuart is known, given that the Stowe South Portico features a version of the frieze from the Lysicates Monument in Athens, taken from Stuart & Revett’s The Antiquities of Athens, 1762. The original antique prototype for this model was found in the Isis temple is now in the Museo Archeologico, Naples. It was subsequently engraved by Gian Battista Piranesi in his Vasi, Candelabri, Cippe of 1778, pl. 44 – and interestingly Piranesi’s engraving clearly reiterates the scale and proportion of the Stowe atheniennes. Widely copied in bronze in the early 19th century, the design was popularised in a more compressed and reduced form in C. Percier and P. Fontaine’s Recueil de Décorations Intérieures of 1801, pl. 23 and 33. They were almost certainly the designers of a pair of tripod basin stands supplied around 1802/3 for the bedroom of the Emperor Napoleon and Empress Josephine at the Château de Saint-Cloud.

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Metals

Engraved Silver Plates

Details

Date
1875
Author / Artist
R&S Garrad & Co., London
Dimensions
45.5oz and 25cm
Material
Silver
Catalogue number
HBT.53.1-2
Current location
Museum

Pair of silver plates engraved with the Temple arms and motto “Templa quam dilecta”.

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Metals

Two Silver-Gilt Plates

Details

Date
1775
Author / Artist
Andrew Folgelburg, London
Dimensions
29.5cm by 24cm
Material
Silver gilt
Catalogue number
HBT.55.1-2
Current location
Museum

Pair of silver-gilt plates, 1775, with Chandos arms and motto “Maintien le Droit” on rim and with the Grenville wheatsheaf added later.

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Photographs

Photographic Negatives

Details

Date
Author / Artist
Beadle & Cooper
Dimensions
Material
Glass, wood, leather
Catalogue number
HBT.96
Current location
Archives

Box of 2,000 photographic negatives from Beadle and Cooper.

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Sculpture

Pair of Kent Urns

Details

Date
Author / Artist
Dimensions
120cm
Material
Portland cement
Catalogue number
SHPT.23
Current location
South Front Portico

A pair of Kent style neo classical style urns, ovoid bowls with key pattern shoulders.

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