A large scale Italian Grand Tour carved alabaster reduction of a bath, Rome, 19th century

The present lot relates to antique Roman urns, sarcophagi and baths, such as those exhibited in the Vatican, which were sought as decorative souvenirs of Italy by Grand Tourists. Such patterns were featured in the sketches made in Rome by the architect Charles Heathcote Tatham published as Etchings Representing the Best Examples of Ancient Ornamental Architecture..., 1799. The design for this reduction could well have been inspired by the Roman original from the Baths of Caracalla and now a fountain in the Piazza Farnese.