An Irish George III statuary marble, Siena, Spanish brocatelle and inlaid marble chimney piece, circa 1780, attributed to George and Hill Darley

The combination of inlaid marble and neoclassical carving on this fine chimneypiece relates closely to the designs of George and Hill Darley, stonecutters and furniture designers in late-eighteenth century Dublin. These work of these two brothers can still be seen on the west front of Trinity College Dublin, and they also had worked on several other notable late-eighteenth century commissions, including the poet William Ashford’s house Sandymount in County Dublin, and the residence of the Italian ambassador at Lucan House. A rare collection of their fine watercolour designs for chimneypieces is held at the Royal Irish Academy: these consistently share design motifs and features with the present lot, most notably the drawing with the inventory number RIA MS 3 C 34/5/2, which has exactly the same pilaster carving and inlay to the jambs as well as the same central tablet with urn and swags.

Although not yet directly attributed to the Darleys, this chimneypiece is almost certainly by the same hand as one in situ in the Library at Shropham Hall, Norfolk and illustrated in Jeremy Musson's article for Country Life, 24th February 2005, pp 76-80. The two chimneypieces are almost identical with the exception of the inlay around the bell-flower swags to the jambs which are formed of pearls in the Shropham example as opposed to a continuous line in the current lot. A further finely executed chimneypiece which appears to be of the same date also incorporating Siena marble with classical motifs and inlay is illustrated in the Dining Room of Shropham, and interestingly both are of the same shallow form as the current lot. While the resemblance between the present Darley-attributed example and the Shropham example is visually striking, there is little documentation on the architects and the designers behind Shropham Hall. As discussed in Jeremy Musson’s article, Shropham was likely built by John Barker (1698-1756), possibly as a remodelling an earlier house in the 1720s, but also seems to have undergone further alterations both to the exterior and interior from the mid-18th century. The library where the near-identical chimneypiece is located has a rococo plasterwork ceiling from the 1750s, though the style of the chimney would indicate that it was introduced in the last quarter of the eighteenth century when a neoclassical portico is thought to have been added to the front of the house.

The designs by the Darleys also reflect the general popularity of the Adam style, and several commonalities can be seen between elements of their designs and those of Robert Adam himself. One example is an Adam drawing in the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum that is inscribed Drawing Room of No. 1 East Corner, on the [Royal] Terrace, Adelphi (ref. no. SM Adam volume 24/21), which features similar swags, rosettes and urn tablets above the jambs. A further chimney from the Adelphi, illustrated by Arthur T Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Vol. II, p. 38, displays similar Ionic capitals heading the columnar formed uprights. The eagle-headed urn and scrolled foliage found on the central tablet can be related to Adam's ceiling designs and the foliage related closely to a chimneypiece in the Saloon at Nostell Priory, see Eileen Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, Yale, 2001, p. 205, fig. 300.