A carved statuary marble chimneypiece with 'rosso antico' relief plaques and micro-mosaic panels circa 1778, the chimneypiece attributed to Lorenzo Cardelli, the micro-mosaic panels attributed to Cesare Aguatti

the rectangular shelf with a narrow bead and reel moulding above an egg and dart moulding, the freize with twin ribbon-framed panels of micro-mosaic decorated with leafy scrolls terminating in grotesque masks, the central low relief rosso antico oval frieze medallion depicting Apollo and Daphne between a further smaller pair of conforming medallions depicting the eagle born ascent of Ganymede to heaven on the left and the goddess Hebe accompanied by an eagle and vase on the right, the aperture within a border of paterae surrounded by a trefoil pattern moulding, the jambs each with a gilt-brass mounted micro-mosaic panel of leafy tendrils and flowers incorporating a swag-hung urn, the stepped plinths to each jamb headed by further ribbon carved mouldings

Almost certainly acquired in Italy by Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803) and installed at Downhill Castle, County Derry
Removed from Downhill Castle shortly prior to its demolition in 1950 and installed in the present owner's house shortly thereafter.

E.R.R. Green, 'Downhill Castle, County Derry, Northern Ireland', Country Life, 6 January 1950, pp.34-37, figs 5 and 6.

RELATED LITERATURE
William S. Childe-Pemberton, The Earl Bishop, the life of Frederick, Bishop of Derry, Earl of Bristol, London 1924, vol II, p. 577;
Damie Stillman `Chimney-Pieces for the English Market: A Thriving Business in late 18th Century Rome', The Art Bulletin, vol. 59, No. 1. March' 1977, pp.85-94;
Nicola Figgis, Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803) as Patron of Art (Thesis presented in the Faculty of Arts, University College Dublin, August 1992);
Alvar González-Palacios, Il gusto dei principi, Milan, 1993, pp. 245-246;
Alvar González-Palacios, Il Tempio Del Gusto, Milan, 1993, pp. 124, 175 and 176;
Alvar Gonzáz-Palacios, The Stanza Di Apollo E Dafne, The Burlington Magazine, vol 137., No. 1109. (Aug., 1995), p. 532;
Alvar González Palacios, Fasto Romano: dipinti, sculture, arredi dai Palazzi di Roma, Rome 1991, pp. 229-236, figs 198-227;
J. Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1997, p. 127;
R. Valeriani, "Reiffenstein, Piranesi e i fornitori romani del Conte di Exeter" in Antologia di Belle Arti, 55-58, 1998, p.150, figs.10-11;
Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection Microcmosaics, 2000, p.281 and cat. no. 4

 

Crack to the shelf. Old repaired damage to both jambs. Drilled holes around perimeter of aperture possibly where register grate was once fixed. Characteristic discolourations, and marks throughout. The catalogue illustration is a fair representation of colour and tone. The chimney is dirty and would benefit from a good clean. There is a chipped corner to the front left corner of the upper shelf, a filled chip to the centre of the shelf, a small chip to the front right corner and a crack through depth of shelf approximately 18in. from right side. The carving to the underside of the mantle is weathered with some small chips particularly to left corner both front and back. The rectangle blocks to the tops of the jambs with chips to each upper left corner. The oval carved plaque to top of right jambs with a crack horizontally. The inside front edge of right jamb with repaired breaks the length of the edge. The rosette carved slip to right side with crack and small chips about 12 in. from base. Inside the slip is a recess with drilled holes possibly originally inset with a gilt bronze border matching those of the mosaic panels to jambs. The marble moulding to base of right jamb with large chipped losses to corners.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present Chimneypiece belongs to a distinct group of related examples made in Rome during the last quarter of the 18th century for the English market.  A contemporary reference in a letter written by Charles Heathcote Tatham from Rome to Henry Holland in July 1795 provides an insight into fire surrounds of this nature, which were readlily available `price of the Chimney peice, which is composed of porphiry,  the basso relievos of rosso antico marble, the mouldings white statuary - pannels encircled with a gilt bronze bead - £75'  In another letter that year Tatham described a yet more elaborate example purchased by Prince Augustus, son of George III and later Duke of Sussex `The mosaic is inimitable, And comes so near to painting it is litterally a deception. The ornaments have the recommendation of being copied minutely from the antique but the Architecture of the work, as designed by Hatfield, a late student here and pupil of M. Wyatts, differs widely from modern style - and I dare say will not altogether accord with your taste.'  Evidence that such chimney pieces were destined for the English market is contained in the large quantities of extant drawings in private collections, with scales marked in `English feet' or `piedi inglesi' (see Stillman op. cit., p. 86). The left hand rosso antico medallion depicting Ganymede on the Downhill chimneypiece is derived from a Roman relief in the Villa Albani, Rome. Other celebrated sculptor's using comparable relief medallions in chimneypieces supplied for English patrons include Carlo Albacini and Agostino Penna. Chimneypieces by Piranesi featuring such elements are recorded in The Yellow Drawing Room at Gorhambury, Herts and in The State Bedroom, Burghley House, Northants (see Stillman op. cit., p. 90, pl. 10 and p. 87. pls. 2 & 3)  

A clue as to the maker of the offered lot is provided in a letter from the Earl-Bishop of Derry in 1789 to one of his daughters Lady Erne, then in Rome, `I want some beautiful chimney pieces....pray tell Cardelli so'. A documented Chimneypiece by Cardelli survives at Penrice Castle (see John Cornforth `Penrice Caslte, Glamorgan II', Country Life, 25 September 1975, figs. 2 and 4, illustrated in situ in the Drawing Room). It was purchased from Cardelli in 1771 by the collector Thomas Mansel Talbot for the sum of £200. The Penrice Chimneypiece parallels the same combination of micro-mosaic panels outlined with gilt-bronze beading set within a white statuary marble surround. Certain elements of the carving also echo that on the Downhill example such as the bold egg and dart mouldings beneath the shelf and the moulded ornament directly below the micro-mosaic frieze panel. The same anthemion border surrounding the aperture on the Penrice chimneypiece is also found on the corresponding perimeter to lot 114. The micro mosaic panels at Penrice bear the signature `Aguatti Romano', that of Cesare Aguatti, who was an eminent mosaicist working in Rome during the second half of the 18th century.  A design for a chimney piece with closely corresponding frieze and jamb panels is recorded in the R.J.R. Arundell Collection (see Stillman op. cit., p.92, fig. 19). A further statuary marble chimneypiece with micro-mosaic panels which was also acquired by the 4th Earl of Bristol is recorded at Ickworth, Suffolk and illustrated in The Antique Collector, December 1961, p. 220, shown in situ in the Morning Room. However the ornament on the micro-mosaic panels does not entirely correspond with those here and have more of an affinity with the work of Giacomo Raffaeilli, the leading Roman mosaicist whose workshops in the Piazza di Spagna and Via del Babuino are generally regarded as the most important of their kind at that period. Comparable mosaics produced at the same time in Italy are illustrated in Alvar González Palacios, Fasto Romano: dipinti, sculture, arredi dai Palazzi di Roma, Rome 1991, pp. 229-236, figs 198-227. The Ickworth Chimneypiece was almost certainly among a group of eighteen such examples commissioned by the Earl Bishop during his last years in Italy. It had been the Earl Bishop's intention to ship these chimney pieces to England for use at Ickworth but in 1798 these and other treasures in his collection were confiscated in Rome by the invading French. Writing that year to his daughter, Lady Elizabeth Foster, the Earl Bishop begged her to seek the Prime Minister's help in securing the release of belongings. `All my effects at Rome', he explained, are `under sequestration to the amount of £20,000 at the very least. Could Mr Pitt be induced to send a minister to congratulate the Roman people on their emancipation, & appoint me to the Embassy, he would do himself and me a most essential service - me because I should save all that immense & valuable & beautiful property of large mosaick pavements, sumptuous chimney pieces for my new house, & pictures, statues, busts & marbles without end, first-rate Titians & Raphaels, dear Guidos, and three old Caraccis - gran, Dio che tesoro - and himself because such an embassy would wrench the Republick off his hands of their tyrants, despoilers & merciless taskmasters... I am on thorns till I hear from you' (quoted in William S. Childe-Pemberton, op. cit., p. 577, & Figgis, op. cit.. Sadly for the Earl Bishop, his collection remained under French sequestration until at least 1801 and there was never an opportunity for him to see it installed at Ickworth before his death in 1803. For his son there was the added disappointment that, even after the collection had been returned, it was bequeathed to another family member, the Earl Bishop's cousin, the Revd. Sir Henry Aston Bruce, 1st Bt. However such were the Earl Bishop's debts that Bruce was forced to sell the collection in Rome in 1804, and the 5th Earl thus had the opportunity to buy back various items, apparently through the Irish artist and dealer Robert Fagan, who had been involved in the recovery of the Earl Bishop's collection.

Following the sale at least two chimneypieces were sent to Lord Bristol in England, again through the agency of Fagan. Between 1805 and 1806 Fagan made a number of shipments, including one on 7 December 1806 which comprised five cases containing two marble chimneypieces and several mosaics. On their arrival in England the chimneypieces were placed in storage in London but the present examples were afterwards installed by Lord Bristol at his residence at No. 6 St. James's square, rebuilt under his direction by John Field in 1819-22. The chimneypiece remained at the St. James's Square house until the family sold this property in the 1950s, at which point they were transferred to Ickworth and installed in the East Wing.

It is tempting to surmise that the Downhill chimneypieces formed part of the eighteen examples confiscated in 1798. However it would seem unlikely that they would have been installed at Downhill after the Earls death in 1803, long after the building was completed in 1787. It is also known that he was actively acquiring `treasures' for the house whilst on his Continental travels in 1778 (see note to lot 114) and his 1789 letter to his daughter in Rome raises the possibility that he had had previous dealings with Cardelli. Finaly the Downhill example has closer stylistic correlations with the Penrice Chimneypiece acquired in 1771 than the more austere design of the Ickworth example which was purchased by the Earl Bishop in the 1790s.

CARDELLI AND  AGUATTI
The leading Roman sulptor Lorenzo Cardelli's patrons include Prince Marcantonio Borghese who commissioned a chimneypiece formerly in the Palazzo Borghese in Rome illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principi, Milano, 1993, fig.487) and Stanislas Augustus, King of Poland. Ennio Quirino Visconti, one of the foremost archeologists of the late 18th century records Cardelli as having supplied the capitals to the columns and pilasters in the Stanza del Gladiatore in the Villa Borghese, Rome and described him as a well know restorer and ornamental carver working in Rome. Cardelli also was also held in high enough regard to be contracted to carry out some additional carving work to the pedestal of Bernini's celebrated sculpture of Apollo and Daphne, when it was moved in 1785. The same year Cardelli received final payment for a group of vases also in The Villa Borghese (see Alvar Gonzáz-Palacios, The Stanza Di Apollo E Dafne, The Burlington Magazine, vol 137., No. 1109. (Aug., 1995, p. 532, 536 and 545, figs. 88-91).  His high standing is further cemented by a letter preserved in the Arundell archives, From Father Thorpe to Lord Arundell of  6 February 1774 referring to `A Sig.^re Cardelli (who) cuts ornaments in marble as fine as the ancients did' (quoted Stillman op. cit., p. 85, note 3).

Cesare Aguatti (also known as Agnatti), was one of the most accomplished mosaicists in Rome during the second half of the 18th century. Together with Raffaelli, Valle, Latini, and Laurenti he is distinguished for his pioneering use of miniscule spun smalti. He was involved in various commissions for English clients besides that for Mansel Talbot already mentioned. These include two mosaic panels at Burghley House, illustrated in R. Valeriani, "Reiffenstein, Piranesi e i fornitori romani del Conte di Exeter" in Antologia di Belle Arti, 55-58, 1998, p.150, figs.10-11. His Italian work includes mosaic panels incorporating colourful animals supplied in 1784-5 to Prince Marcantonio Borghese for the Hall of the Emperors of the Villa Borghese in Rome. Aguatti also worked under the Auspices of Giovanni Angelo Braschi, Pius VI (r. 1775-9), at the Vatican Mosaic Workshop where in 1774-5 he created a version of Temple of Sibyl at Tivoli, incorporating the Braschi coat of arms. Coinciding with his retention at the Vatican Mosaic workshop, Aguatti carried out restoration work to the floors of the Baths of Oritocoli in the Pio-Clementine Museum's Rotunda as well as the decoration of some of the chimneypieces there. A Chimneypice at the Louvre, Paris, features mosaic panels depicting wild boar, a leopard, a lion and a bull within srolling rinceaux. The mosaic panels at Penrice and his version of Temple of Sibyl at Tivoli appear to be among the few recorded examples of mosaic work by Aguatti bearing his signature (see Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel, op. cit. , p.281).

We are grateful to Roberto Valeriani for his assistance in compiling this footnote