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Large 19th Century French Dore Bronze Mounted Hand-Cut Prismic Crystal Box
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Fantastic and Large 19th century French dore bronze mounted hand-cut prismic crystal box. The mount is hand-chased and hand-chiseled with the finest detail. The entire mount is des...
Category
Antique 1860s French Louis XVI Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Bronze
A Large 20th C. French Ormolu Mounted Pink Opaline Egg Form Covered Box
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Large 20th C. French Ormolu Mounted Pink Opaline Egg Form Covered Box. This exceptionally rare and large box, meticulously crafted from pink opaline crystal and complemented by orn...
Category
Antique Early 1900s French Louis XVI Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Bronze
Pair of 19th C French Dore Bronze & Enamel 2-Arm Candelabras w/ Dolphin Branches
Located in New York, NY
A Beautiful Pair of 19th Century French Dore Bronze and Enamel Two-Arm Candelabra/Lamps with Dolphin Branches. Each is cast from incredible dore bronze, the finest quality of gilt b...
Category
Antique 1870s French Louis XVI Candelabras
Materials
Bronze, Enamel, Ormolu
A Pair of 20th. C. American Caldwell Gilt Bronze 7-Arm Torchieres w/ Lion Feet
By Edward F. Caldwell & Co.
Located in New York, NY
A Large and Rare Pair of 20th. Century American Caldwell Gilt Bronze 7-Arm Torchieres with Lion Feet. Each with a Solomonic-form stem molded with spiral fluting and grape leaves and ...
Category
20th Century American Rococo Torchères
Materials
Bronze
An Empire Period Ormolu Mounted Russian Opaline Crystal Covered Box
Located in New York, NY
A Fantastic Empire Period Early 19th Century Ormolu Mounted Russian Opaline Crystal Covered Box. Of cylindrical form the highly translucent opalescent or opaline crystal is truly ma...
Category
Antique 1810s Russian Empire Decorative Boxes
Materials
Ormolu
A Large 19th C French Ormolu Mounted Footed Prismatic Crystal Box, Domed top
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Beautiful and Quite Large 19th Century French Ormolu Mounted Footed Crystal Box. The top crystal is domed and sits on a hinged ormolu mount with a seashell clasp. The crystal is ...
Category
Antique 1890s French Louis XVI Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Ormolu
Beautiful Empire Period (1810) Russian Ormolu Mounted White Opaline Covered Box
Located in New York, NY
An Unusual, Fantastic, and Quite Beautiful Empire Period (1810) Russian Ormolu Mounted White Opaline Covered Box. Of oval form the highly translucent opalescent or opaline crystal i...
Category
Antique 1810s Russian Empire Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Ormolu
A Highly Unusual Pair of English Japanism Motif Porcelain Vases Turned to Lamps
Located in New York, NY
A Highly Unusual Pair of 19th Century English Japanism Motif Porcelain Vases Turned to Lamps. Each with a waisted neck and wide-angled body, these lamps are very unusual in form. T...
Category
Antique 1880s English Japonisme Table Lamps
Materials
Wood, Porcelain
19th C. Patinated & Dore Bronze Hercules Clock on a Marble base, E. F. Caldwell
By Edward F. Caldwell & Co.
Located in New York, NY
An Marvelous Signed Caldwell 19th Century Patinated and Dore Bronze Hercules Clock on a Marble Mount. The clock features a Roman Numeral ormolu dial with a cream colored backdrop. ...
Category
Antique 1890s American Louis XVI Mantel Clocks
Materials
Marble, Bronze
A Large Pair of Mid-Century Modern Amber Colored Italian Murano Crystal Lamps
Located in New York, NY
A Large and Quite Beautiful Pair of Mid-Century Modern Amber Colored Italian Murano Crystal. With a marvelous swirling crystal design and beautiful circular bases this pair is very ...
Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Materials
Crystal
An 18th C. Silver Mounted Mughal Hand-Carved and Beveled Rectangular Jade Box
Located in New York, NY
An 18th Century Silver Mounted Mogul Hand-Carved and Beveled Rectangular Jade Box. The jade is the finest quality with a natural even green tone. It is beautifully hand-carved and ...
Category
Antique 1790s Mongolian Islamic Decorative Boxes
Materials
Jade, Silver
A Beautiful & massive Carved Chinese Jade Horse on Hardwood Stand
Located in New York, NY
A Beautiful and rather large hand Carved and polished Chinese Spinach/Black Jade Horse on Hardwood Stand. This jade horse, carved from high-quality Spinach/Black green jade, present...
Category
Vintage 1950s Chinese Qing Sculptures and Carvings
Materials
Jade
A Large 19th C English Mintons Biscuit Porcelain Centerpiece with Dancing Putti
By Minton
Located in New York, NY
A Large 19th Century English Mintons Biscuit Porcelain Centerpiece with Dancing Putties. This exquisite work exemplifies the high level of craftsmanship characteristic of the period...
Category
Antique 1890s English Louis XVI Centerpieces
Materials
Porcelain
Chinese Yellow Monochromatic Porcelain Ormolu Mounted Lamp, Attb. E. F. Caldwell
By Edward F. Caldwell & Co.
Located in New York, NY
A 19th Century Chinese Yellow Monochromatic Porcelain and Ormolu Mounted Lamp, Attributed to E. F. Caldwell. Of baluster form, the porcelain has a gorgeous bright yellow monochromat...
Category
Antique 1880s American Louis XVI Table Lamps
Materials
Ormolu
Pr. 19th C. Chinese Porcelain Vases Turned-to-Lamps with French Ormolu Mounts
Located in New York, NY
An Unusual Pair of 19th Century Chinese Porcelain Vases Turned-to-Lamps with French Ormolu Mounts. This is truly an unusual pair of lamps, with a black and turquoise blue salmon roe fish ground and an elaborate and unusual number of round cartouches, each with a different interior design. The cartouche roundels are hand-enameled and include peaches, flowers, Daoist symbols, and many more Chinese inspired designs. Each lamp is hand-enameled with a gorgeous array of details and sophistication. The vases are flanked with gilt elephant-ear handles and have their original lids, which were later converted to lamps to be used in any modern day setting. The porcelain vases are mounted on a pair of gorgeous French ormolu mounts, which are finished with hand-chased designs.
China, Circa: 1880
Height of Vases with...
Category
Antique 1880s Chinese Qing Table Lamps
Materials
Ormolu
Large Pair Japanese Coral Ground Imari Covered Vases on Stands, Getty Collection
Located in New York, NY
A Monumental and Very Rare Pair of Japanese Coral Ground Imari Covered Vases on Stands, from the Getty Collection. Each painted to the front and ba...
Category
Antique 1890s Japanese Meiji Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
A Pair of Early 19th Century Chinese Celadon Ground Vases with Sgraffito
Located in New York, NY
A Pair of Early 19th Century Chinese Celadon Ground Double Handle Vases with Sgraffito Designs of Leaves and Vines. Each is of a diamond form with a spectacular Chinese celadon glaz...
Category
Antique Early 1800s Chinese Qing Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain
A Rare Pair Kangxi Period (18th C) Chinese Porcelain Wucai Decorated Wall Vases
Located in New York, NY
A Fantastic and Rare Pair of Kangxi Period (18th Century) Chinese Porcelain Wucai Decorated Wall Vases/Fountains. Of pear shape, brightly enam...
Category
Antique 1710s Chinese Other Ceramics
Materials
Porcelain, Wood
Pr. Unusual French Baccarat White Opaline & Bronze Mounted Lamps w Elephant base
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Pair of Antique French Baccarat Gilt and Patinated Bronze White Opaline Crystal Rectangular Lamps with Enamel Decoration. This pair of antique French Baccarat lamps features recta...
Category
Antique 1880s French Louis XVI Table Lamps
Materials
Crystal, Bronze
Large 19th C. Antique French Baccarat Crystal and Ormolu Mounted Covered Box
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Very Large 19th Century Antique French Baccarat Crystal and Ormolu Mounted Covered Box, Attributed to Baccarat. This incredible large crystal box is all hand-diamond cut and attri...
Category
Antique 1860s French Louis XVI Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Ormolu
A Pair Louis XVI style French Ormolu 5-Arm Candelabra Turned to Lamps
Located in New York, NY
A Pair of 19th Century Louis XVI French Ormolu Five-Arm Candelabra Turned to Lamps. Each is exceptionally cast, hand-chased, and hand-chiseled with a tall columnar body which extend...
Category
Antique 1870s French Louis XVI Table Lamps
Materials
Ormolu
A Monumental 19th Century Antique French Giltwood Floral Love Birds Mirror
Located in New York, NY
A Monumental 19th Century Antique French Giltwood Floral Love Birds Mirror. Of large rectangular form, the mirror is very large. The entire frame and top are all made from hand-car...
Category
Antique 1880s French Louis XVI Floor Mirrors and Full-Length Mirrors
Materials
Mirror, Giltwood
A Baccarat Apricot Crystal Paperweight Box Mounted w/ Ormolu Bezel, Mid 1900's
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Very Fine, Antique Mid-Century Modern French Baccarat (attributed) Paper-Weight Glass, Apricot Color Rectangular Shaped Box Mounted With a Very Fine Hand-Chiseled Ormolu Mounted Be...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Bronze
Antique Meissen Porcelain Figure of a Dachshund Dog
By Meissen Porcelain
Located in New York, NY
An Antique Meissen Porcelain figure of a Dachshund dog, with double blue crossed swords mark under-glaze. This is a very well portrayed Dachs...
Category
Vintage 1930s German Rococo Animal Sculptures
Materials
Porcelain
Pair French Ormolu Mounted Chinese Lavender Ground Porcelain Lamps
Located in New York, NY
A Beautiful Pair of 19th/Early 20th Century Chinese Lavender Ground Famille Rose Decorated Porcelain Lamps on French Ormolu Mounts. Each lamp is of bulbous form with a gorgeous light lavender ground which is very unusual for Chinese porcelain. The bodies are decorated with Daoist symbols which are beautifully enameled with array of colors and traditional Chinese motifs. The base of the vases consists of a border that is beautifully hand-enameled and gorgeously decorated with a traditional Chinese floral design. The bases of the vases are mounted with French ormolu mounts with laurel wreaths all hand-chased and hand-chiseled into the ormolu.
Mount: France, Circa: 1900
Porcelain: China, Circa: 1900
Height with shades is adjustable about 30"
Height of the Vases with Mounts...
Category
Early 20th Century French Louis XVI Table Lamps
Materials
Ormolu
Pr. 19 C. Italian Breccia Pernice (Red) Marble Pedestals on Carrara Marble Bases
Located in New York, NY
A Large Cylindrical Pair of 19th Century Italian Neoclassical Breccia Pernice (Red) Marble Pedestals on Carrara Marble Bases. Each pedestal is hand-carved from a large, single, soli...
Category
Antique 1840s Italian Neoclassical Pedestals and Columns
Materials
Breccia Marble, Carrara Marble
Pr. 19 C. Italian Siena (Orange/Yellow) Marble Pedestals on Carrara Marble Bases
Located in New York, NY
A Large Cylindrical Pair of 19th Century Italian Neoclassical Siena (Orange/Yellow) Marble Pedestals on Carrara Marble Bases. Each pedestal is hand-carved from a large, single, soli...
Category
Antique 1840s Italian Neoclassical Pedestals and Columns
Materials
Carrara Marble, Siena Marble
A Large 121 Total Piece 20th C. Meissen Porcelain Green Vine Table Service
By Meissen Porcelain
Located in New York, NY
A Tremendously Large 121 Piece 20th Century Meissen Porcelain Green Vine Table Service. This service is fully complete with an exuberant number of pieces which can we used in all di...
Category
Mid-20th Century German Other Porcelain
Materials
Porcelain
A 19th Century French Ormolu Multi-Arm Chandelier with Leaves and Flowers
Located in New York, NY
A 19th Century French Ormolu Multi-Arm Chandelier with Leaves and Flowers. The bulbous body is made up of elongated ormolu bars with ormolu vines, leaves, and flowers branching off t...
Category
Antique 19th Century French Louis XVI Chandeliers and Pendants
Materials
Bronze
Asprey Orientalist Gilt Silver Palm Tree & Camel Centerpiece w/ Jade & Diamonds
By Asprey International Limited
Located in New York, NY
A Magnificent and Quite Rare English Asprey Signed Orientalist Motif Masterpiece with Dessert Palm Tree and Parcel-Gilt Silver Camels having Diamond Eyes. Gorgeously constructed in ...
Category
20th Century English Other Animal Sculptures
Materials
Jade, Malachite, Rock Crystal, Vermeil, Silver
Chinese Bronze Cloisonné Foo Dog Jardinière, Lion Mask Handles: Republic Period
Located in New York, NY
A magnificent large Chinese bronze and cloisonné foo dog jardinière with Lion Mask Handles hails from the Republic period, circa 1950.
Cloisonné enameled with meticulous care, the j...
Category
Mid-20th Century Chinese Metalwork
Materials
Bronze, Enamel
Pair of Art Deco 2-Colored Mirror Floor Lamps Attb. Maison Jansen
By Maison Jansen
Located in New York, NY
A Magnificent Pair of Art Deco Period/Mid-Century Two-Colored Mirrored Floor Lamps, Attributed to Maison Jansen. Each floor lamp is decorated with antique copper colored mirror as w...
Category
Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Floor Lamps
Materials
Glass, Mirror
A 19th Century Moser Gilt and Enameled Amethyst Compote, with Raised Decoration
By Moser Glassworks
Located in New York, NY
A Beautiful 19th Century Moser Gilt and Enameled Amethyst Compote, with Raised Enamel Decoration. The upper bowl is beautifully decorated with 24k gi...
Category
Antique 1890s Czech Other Crystal Serveware
Materials
Crystal
A 19th Century English Regency Kidney Form Black Ebony Desk
Located in New York, NY
A 19th Century English Regency Kidney Form Black Ebony Desk with Drawers and Ormolu Mounts. Beautifully hand-carved the entire desk is beautifully e...
Category
Antique 19th Century English Regency Desks and Writing Tables
Materials
Bronze
Pair of 19th Century Ormolu Mounted Baccarat Crystal Celeste Blue Opaline Vases
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A Pair of 19th Century French Louis XVI Style Ormolu Mounted Baccarat Crystal Celeste Blue Opaline Vases. Each vase is of amphora form with a wide upper mouth that extends downwards ...
Category
Antique 1840s French Louis XVI Vases
Materials
Crystal, Ormolu
A French Japanism Orientalist Mixed-Metal Peacock Centerpiece/Tray, by E. Cornu
By Eugène Cornu
Located in New York, NY
A Marvelous and Quite Unusual French Japanism Orientalist Mixed-Metal Peacock-Form Centerpiece/Tray, by EUGENE CORNU. Made by Parisian sculptor Eugene Cornu. The bashful peacock bo...
Category
Antique 1880s French Japonisme Centerpieces
Materials
Bronze, Enamel, Ormolu, Silver Leaf
A Pair of English Regency Patinated and Ormolu Rams Head Andirons
Located in New York, NY
A Pair of English Regency Period Patinated and Ormolu Rams Head Andirons. Each is beautifully patinated with a dark patina and further accented with ormolu fittings. The body is of...
Category
Antique 1810s English Regency Andirons
Materials
Bronze
Hand-Diamond Cut Crystal & Ormolu Mounted Baccarat Centerpiece/Surtout de Table
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
A magnificent museum quality French 19th century hand-diamond cut crystal and ormolu-mounted Baccarat centerpiece/surtout de table in the Louis XVI style. This is truly an exemplary ...
Category
Antique 1870s French Louis XVI Centerpieces
Materials
Crystal, Ormolu
A Fine Pair of Russian Empire Period Malachite And Ormolu Obelisks, Early 1800's
Located in New York, NY
A Monumental and Quite Rare Pair of 19th Century Russian Empire Ormolu Mounted Malachite Obelisks with Maiden Ormolu Mounts. Each obelisk is complete with four sides which terminate upwards to a triangular point. The bases are fitted with ormolu mounts which include hand-chased and hand-chiseled maidens holding flaming torches in either hand and on the other panel decoration of a vine with a winged bow. On top of the large ormolu mounts are smaller mounts which depict child masks in wings. Underneath and on top of the square base are ormolu mounts which depict acanthus leaves flourishing throughout with hand-chased and hand-chiseled fluted veins. The entire body of the obelisk is veneered with the most incredible and highest quality antique Russian malachite...
Category
Antique 1830s Russian Empire Obelisks
Materials
Malachite, Ormolu
Attributed to Baccarat Black Amethyst Crystal & Dore Bronze Mounted Jewelry Box
By Baccarat
Located in New York, NY
An Unusual Ormolu Mounted Black Amethyst Crystal Jewelry Box, Attributed to Baccarat. Beautifully hinged in the center with a beaded gilt bronze mount as well as gilt bronze feet. ...
Category
Antique Early 1900s French Louis XVI Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Bronze
Philip & Kelvin Laverne, Pair of Bronze Etruscan Side Tables after Picasso
By Philip and Kelvin LaVerne
Located in New York, NY
A Magnificent Pair of Bronze Patinated Etruscan Side Tables after Picasso by Philip & Kelvin Laverne. These tables are part of the Etruscan Series, each featuring three dynamic flang...
Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Materials
Bronze
A Large Pair of 19th Century Meji Period Japanese Imari Porcelain Vases
Located in New York, NY
Matching Large Japanese Imari Porcelain Vases. 1880 Meiji period.
Introducing an exquisite pair of Japanese Imari porcelain vases from the Meiji period, circa 1880. Standing tall at...
Category
Antique 19th Century Vases
Materials
Gold
19th C. Italian Grand Tour Carrara Marble Double-Handled Urn on Lion's Paw Base
Located in New York, NY
A 19th Century Italian Grand Tour Hand-Carved and Hand-Polished Carrara Marble Double-Handled Urn on Lion's Paw Base. Intricately hand-carved with meticulous detail, the wide mouth ...
Category
Antique 1820s Italian Grand Tour Urns
Materials
Carrara Marble
Pair of 19th C. French Ormolu & Patinated Bronze Torchieres/floor lamps
Located in New York, NY
An Incredible and Large Pair of 19th Century Empire Period French Ormolu and Patinated Bronze Mounted Torchieres. The patinated bronze base is decorated with hand-chassed and hand-c...
Category
Antique 1820s French Louis XVI Floor Lamps
Materials
Bronze
Large Antique Italian Micro Mosaic plaque of St. Peters Square, Rome mid 1800's
By Vatican Mosaic Studio
Located in New York, NY
A Very Large and Exceptionally Fine Quality Antique Italian Micro-Mosaic Plaque Depicting "The Saint Peter Square" in Rome. The center medallion surrounded by a beautiful Laurel Wreath in multiple shades of Green Mosaic amidst a black Belgium Marble border. The interior rounded subject depicts Saint Peter Square which is found in Rome, Italy. The entire center panel is made up of a captivating array of tesserae in a variety of shapes and colors, which create this stunning mosaic construct. When inspected from up-close, small rectangular tesserae are found in an assortment of colors, which include: white, green, blue, red, black, brown, orange etc. When the subject is seen from afar, a fantastic image of the entire Saint Peter Square can be viewed as if a painting has been created. The oil on canvas of this scene, by was sold in Christie's Auction for over $2,000,000 USD. The plaque rests in a custom ebonized and gilt square frame. This can be used as a decorative object on the wall to serve as a painting, or, be converted to a table-top by mounting it on a table stand.
Rome, Circa: 1850
Giovanni Paolo Panini (Piacenza 1691-1765 Rome), View of Saint Peter's Square, Rome.
From Christie's Auction:
Giovanni Paolo Panini arrived in Rome in 1711, painting capricci and architectural pieces in a vigorous if slightly eccentric style, and by 1719, when he was admitted to the Academy of St. Luke and the virtuosi al Pantheon, he was a rising star in the Roman art world. From around 1719-1726 he was much in demand for decorative frescoes, including quadratura, ornament and landscape and other genres, often in collaboration with figure or flower painters. During this period he worked for Cardinal Patrizi at Villa Patrizi, Cardinal Annibale Albani at Palazzo Albani (now del Drago) alle Quattro Fontane, Livio de Carolis at Palazzo de Carolis, Cardinal Alberoni at Palazzo Alberoni, Innocent XIII Conti in the Quirinal and in the library of S. Croce in Gerusalemme. In 1724 he married Caterina Gosset, the sister-in-law of Nicolas Vleughels, the director of the French Academy in Rome, to which he was admitted in 1732, and as a result he was much patronized by the French. During the 1720s he developed his figure style away from the awkwardness of his early works into one that concentrated on groups of stylishly-dressed aristocrats and skillfully modelled bystanders, sibyls and pseudo-antique figures. These he noted down in drawings (such as a sketchbook in the British Museum) that he drew upon to populate his paintings. He also began to receive commissions to design and record temporary festivals, often for French ambassadors to Rome.
By the beginning of the 1730s Panini was developing a distinctive subgenre of the capriccio in which recognizable monuments are placed in imaginary topographical relationships, which were well-received in the classicizing era of Clement XII Corsini. In 1732 he was one of the panel of judges for the competition instituted by Clement for the Lateran façade, and in the following year painted an impressive View of Piazza del Quirinale for the pope. At about this time he was developing his best-known topographical subjects, interior views of St Peter's and the Pantheon, which were much in demand, to judge by the number of extant versions extending into the 1750s. By about 1734 he was beginning to attract the attention of English patrons, who ordered sets of Roman views, such as those at Marble Hill House (1738) and Castle Howard. In 1736, through Filippo Juvarra, he received important commissions from Philip V of Spain for scenes of the life of Christ in the Chinoiserie room at La Granja in Spain (1736). From as early as the 1720s he had been producing some vedute (view-paintings), initially based on prototypes by Gaspar van Wittel, and he developed the genre in subsequent decades in works that would include impressive panoramic views of the Forum or Palatine, although his staple genre was the capriccio rather than the veduta. He also expanded his repertory of church interiors, adding such churches as S. Paolo fuori le Mura and S. Agnese in Piazza Navona, as well as church interiors recording special events. His son by his first marriage, Giuseppe (1718-1805), began to support him in architectural and festival design projects.
By the 1740s Panini was at the peak of his powers, and evidently had a considerable workshop helping him meet demand, especially of capricci to be used as overdoors and other decorative installations. Giovanni Paolo was successful in elevating himself socially above the usual artisanal status of genre painters, and would sometimes include a self-portrait in paintings commissioned by the great and powerful. He also appears to have been successful financially, and owned a substantial palazzo in via Monserrato. He increasingly concentrated on important commissions, such as a view of the Lottery in Piazza Montecitorio (London, National Gallery, 1743-1744), the designs for the festival decorations for the birth of the Dauphin in Palazzo Farnese (Waddesdon Manor, 1751), or the view of an imaginary picture gallery housing the collection of Cardinal Valenti Gonzaga (Wadsworth Atheneum, 1749). In the mid-1750s he received an important series of commissions from the Duc de Choiseul, French ambassador to Rome and soon to become one of the most powerful men in France, that included his best-known compositions, Ancient Rome (Roma Antica) and Modern Rome (Roma Moderna). These large paintings, of which there are three sets (in Boston and Stuttgart, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Louvre) represent imaginary picture galleries based on the Valenti Gonzaga composition but hung with what purport to be Panini's own vedute of ancient and modern sites respectively (with corresponding pieces of sculpture). These paintings sum up the eighteenth-century canon of the greatest works of architecture and sculpture, and the equivalence between modern and ancient Rome. By this time Panini was being assisted by his son by his second marriage, Francesco (1748-1800), who was a skilled draughtsman and painter who continued his father's work after his death in 1765.
The Farnborough Hall paintings
The Piazza S. Pietro and the Campidoglio are important vedute by Panini painted in 1750 and originally installed, with other works by Panini and Canaletto, in the seat of the Holbech family, Farnborough Hall, Warwickshire (National Trust). Farnborough Hall had been inherited in 1717 by William Holbech (circa 1699-1771), who is documented on the Grand Tour in Florence, Rome and Venice from late 1732 until his return home at the end of April 1734 with his brother Hugh. Holbech is said to have gone on the Grand Tour to recover from a broken heart and to have spent a considerable time there prior to these documented appearances. During his time in Rome he acquired two Paninis, which were seen by an anonymous antiquary around 1746, who referred to various sculptures "all brought from Rome with two pictures, one of the Rotunda, and the other of diverse buildings by Panino" (British Library, Add. MS 6230, pp. 31-32). The Rotunda (the Pantheon) is a painting now in a private collection in New York, and is signed and dated 1734. The Diverse Buildings, which was probably one of Panini's capricci, has not been identified. On his Grand Tour Holbech seems also to have acquired two Canalettos, although they are not mentioned by the antiquary, who may only have had eyes for things Roman.
In about 1746-1747, Holbech remodelled the house by creating a Saloon, now the dining room, at the back of the house. This room, the entrance hall, the staircase, library and closet were stuccoed by William Perritt of York, and a bill for this work dated 14 November 1750 survives (or survived until recently; G. Beard, Decorative Plasterwork in Great Britain, London, 1975, p. 233). The two Canalettos acquired on the Grand Tour were installed in the Saloon, together with two new works commissioned from Canaletto, who was then in England and working nearby at Warwick Castle in 1748. The two Paninis acquired on the Grand Tour may have been installed in the Library, as Alastair Laing assumes (op. cit.), while three new works commissioned from Panini in Rome were placed in the Hall and Saloon: the Piazza S. Pietro for the overmantel in the Hall (fig. 1), the Campidoglio as the overmantel in the Saloon (fig. 2), and an Interior of St Peter's (now in Detroit) (fig. 3) on the adjacent wall facing the windows. Two of the Canalettos flanked the Campidoglio, while the others were on the opposite wall. The Interior of St Peter's was therefore effectively the fifth member of the Canaletto set, distinct from the two overmantels.
Holbech's installation of his Canalettos and Paninis in fixed stucco frames was unusual for England in 1750, and had probably been inspired by what he had seen on his Grand Tour in Northern Italy, where fixed stucco installations of canvases were common in the 1720s and 1730s (Cornforth, II, p. 51). The Campidoglio and the Interior of St Peter's are both signed and dated 1750, a date that corresponds to the payments for the stucco.
The commission for the new Paninis would have been made through an agent, possibly the Roman dealer in antiquities Belisario Amidei from whom some of the antique busts in the Hall were acquired in 1745, who was also a picture dealer; or perhaps the painter Pietro Berton, who on 7 December 1750 shipped a Panini to England.
The paintings were sold to Savile Gallery in 1929 and replaced by copies by one Mohammed Ayoub. The four Canalettos were exhibited at Savile Gallery in 1930 and entered the London art trade, finding their way at various times to Augsburg, Melbourne, Ottawa and a private collection. The Paninis seem to have been resold immediately to Knoedler & Co. in New York. When the stucco was removed from the library by Holbech's great-grandson, another William Holbech, shortly after his succession in 1812, the Interior of the Pantheon and the Diverse Buildings may have been taken down. Although there is no record of either painting being at Farnborough subsequently, the Interior of the Pantheon at least must have remained there, since it appeared at Knoedler's in 1930 at about the same time as the other Paninis, and was presumably acquired at the same time from the same source.
The Campidoglio was a rare subject for Panini: this is the only known extant version, apart from fictive versions in the Metropolitan Museum (1757) (figs. 4) and Louvre (1759) versions of his Roma Moderna composition (but not in the first Boston version of 1757). Probably Holbech insisted on the choice of subject in order to represent the centre of Rome's civic administration to complement the religious one of St Peter's. The Campidoglio may have been of interest to English patrons because it represented the seat of a form of government they were more comfortable with than the papacy. For example, Canaletto painted the subject, together with English subjects, for Thomas Hollis, 'the most bigoted of all Republicans' in 1755, who may have wanted to 'represent London as the heir to the legacy of Ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy' (see Michael Liversidge and Jane Farrington, eds., Canaletto and England, exhibition catalogue, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, London, 1993, p. 25). Canaletto also painted the subject for Sir Richard Neave, Ist Baronet (1731-1814) of Dagnam Park, Essex, at the end of his English stay or shortly afterwards (i.e. 1755-1766) (sold, Sotheby's, London, 10 July 2002, lot 8). Like Holbech, Neave mixed Venetian and Roman subjects, but his Roman subjects steer clear of St Peter's: the others were the Piazza del Quirinale and Piazza Navona. While Holbech had gone to both Venice and Rome and commissioned views of both cities, Rome sets the keynote for his decoration: antique busts line the Hall, and its religious and civic centres are the overmantels in the Hall and Saloon respectively.
The Piazza S. Pietro
The Piazza S. Pietro shows the piazza much as it appears today, apart from the absence of Valadier's late eighteenth-century clocks on the towers. Bernini's colonnade (1656-1667), both ends of which are visible, reaches out its arms to embrace the viewer. In the center of the piazza is the obelisk moved by Sixtus V in 1586 from the left side of the church where it had formed part of the Circus of Nero. On either side are two fountains, the one on the right by Carlo Maderno (1613) and the one on the left created to match it by Carlo Fontana in 1677. Beyond is the rectangular forecourt to the church, the piazza retta, leading to the façade by Maderno, completed in 1610, and the dome by Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. To the right of the façade the roof of the Sistine Chapel is just visible, followed by the Cortile di S. Damaso, the palace of the Swiss Guards and the palace of Paul V. A Cardinal is being driven in a carriage across the piazza at the right in the direction of the Borgo Nuovo and Ponte S. Angelo with his blue-liveried retinue and subsidiary carriages. Unlike the later versions of the subject that depict the Duke de Choiseul, there seems to be no intent to portray any particular cardinal: the procession of a cardinal here is presented simply as characteristic activity within the piazza. Various groups of figures, including well-dressed women in brightly colored dresses, Swiss Guards, priests, gentlemen, idlers and a pilgrim are distributed around the piazza. In the foreground an imaginary heap of fallen masonry provides visual interest in an otherwise dead space.
Panini painted the Piazza S. Pietro on a number of occasions, and his works falls into two types, one with the viewpoint shifted slightly to left of the axis, as in the Farnborough Hall version, and one with it shifted slightly to the right. The first type is based on a composition by Gaspar van Wittel, of which there are numerous versions from 1684 until 1721 (Fig. 9 van Wittel). The work by Panini that seems closest to Van Wittel and therefore probably the earliest is the version in the Circolo della Caccia, Rome, which has been dated to the second half of the 1730s, but is probably a decade or so earlier. Another, on the London art market in 2002-2009, and a version with workshop participation at Sotheby's, Milan (20 November 2007, lot 137) and currently on the art market in Rome, are closer to an important painting in Toledo (Arisi no. 308) that is signed and dated 1741 (fig. 6).
Van Wittel employed a wide format (about 2:1), showed both of the end faces of the colonnade almost to their full extent, and introduced the theme of a heap of masonry to enliven the foreground. His choice of perspective implies a viewpoint located in the small piazza between the Borgo Nuovo and Borgo Vecchio, now the Piazza Pio XII at the top of the Via della Conciliazione. From this viewpoint a building at the left tended to interfere with the view of the end of the left arm, as can be seen from the Nolli map...
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Baccarat is a French luxury crystal company that manufactures and sells high-end products. Founded in 1764 by artisans in Lorraine with the permission of King Louis XV, Baccarat is known for its craftsmanship, quality, and innovation. The company's products include lighting, tableware, decorative objects, fine jewelry, and custom flacons, and are designed to symbolize French artifacts...
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