Collection of Framed Wallpapers

Details

Date

1770s

Author / Artist

Unknown

Dimensions

Various

Material

Wallpaper

Catalogue number

SHPT.22

Current location

Japan Room

Collection of framed wallpaper, late 18th century, with substantial repairs: House portrait (of Avington Park), within ribbon-tied branches, 160cm x 90cm; chinoiserie design with twisted branches and songbirds, 178cm x 104cm; related design laurel branch with a parrot and other birds, 140cm x 125cm; four related designs amongst branches, 260cm x 65cm; four narrow designs with birds amongst branches 260cm by 32cm.

Avington House near Winchester, Hampshire was redesigned in the late 18th century by the courtier James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos. The estate then descended to the duke’s only surviving daughter, Lady Anne Elizabeth Brydges (1779-1835), who married Richard Temple-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.

It is conceivable that the wallpaper was commissioned for Stowe, the house portrait ‘panel’ – which is presented tromp l’oeil as though a framed painting – being a reminder of lady Anne’s family home and noble lineage. However, it is popssible that the paper hangings were removed from Avington House and re-hung at Stowe. The designs are consistent with the prevailing fashion of the 1770’s and 1780’s. At that time the 3rd Duke was improving the house, gardens and parkland at Avington.

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.

Pair of Sale Posters

Details

Date

c.1922

Author / Artist

Dimensions

173cm by 94cm

Material

Paper

Catalogue number

SS.1.1-2

Current location

Ante-Library

Pair of Sale Posters. Stowe House treasures sale by auction held jointly by Messrs Jackson Stops and Messrs Farebrother, Ellis and Co. Notice for the 11th of October 1922, glazed in contemporary frame.

Set of four Plaster Busts

Details

Date

Unknown

Author / Artist

Dominico Brucciani

Dimensions

43cm

Material

Plaster

Catalogue number

SS.2.1-4

Current location

Ante-Library

Four plaster copies of busts of Homer, Demosthenes, Horace and Homer.

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.

Duke’s Urn

Details

Date

Author / Artist

Dimensions

250cm

Material

Stone

Catalogue number

SS.5

Current location

Chapel Courtyard

Duke’s Urn

Marble Bust of Apollo Belvedere

Details

Date

1700s

Author / Artist

Dimensions

Material

Marble

Catalogue number

SS.7

Current location

West Corridor

A marble bust of Apollo Belvedere after the antique, 18th century, on socle.

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

Related

Related history

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.

Silver Gilt Urn

Details

Date

1773

Author / Artist

Thomas Hemming

Dimensions

39cm

Material

Silver gilt

Catalogue number

SS.9

Current location

Museum

A silver gilt urn, 1773, having a part fluted ovoid body with median band of Vitruvian scrolls, harebell loop handles, on a knopped laurel bordered pedestal with square plinth, the lid with reclining putto.

Marble Bust of Venus

Details

Date

Author / Artist

Dimensions

57cm

Material

Marble

Catalogue number

SS.10

Current location

West Corridor

Marble bust of Venus, after the antique, her hair tied in a knot on top of her head.