19th Century Decorative Art

Majolica plate with a pheasant in the woods signed Hippolyte Boulenger Choisy le Roi, circa 1890. The manufacture of Choisy le Roi was one of the most important manufacture at the e...

Sensational image by Gustave Doré Woodcut engraving Published C.1880 Unframed. Free shipping

Great image of fungi Copper-plate engraving by Milton Published by Longman & Rees, London Dated 1802 Unframed. Free shipping.

Rare 19th Century Victorian Majolica Plate Biarritz George Jones. Souvenir plate of Biarritz. On the center a man wearing a black beret carrying a girl in the ocean. On the border , ...

It has been hand backed on linen and stretched over a stretcher , and finished with the wooden frame. Ready to go on any Wall.

First the fragment has been hand backed on a linen fabric, then stretched over a wooden stretcher and finished with a wooden frame. Late 19th C. France / England Ready to go on a wal...

This set of four original antique mycology prints is a botanical treasure. Each print is a meticulous depiction of various mushrooms and other fungi, showcasing their intricate detai...

A very large and impressive pair of painted leather panels possibly depicting the 'Battle of Cannae'. 18th or early 19th Century It is believed that these panels were possibly ori...

Antique print titled 'Chine - Supplice du Tcha ou Kangue'. View of corporal punishment with a cangue (or tcha). The cangue is a device that was use...

Great image of fish. Unframed. It gives you the option of perhaps making a set up using your own choice of frames. Lithograph after Cpt. Brown with original hand color. Published,...

Pair of Elegant 19th Century Hand Painted French Boiserie Wall Panels. Panels are painted on canvas and later mounted on a board. Framed in simple white wooden frames. Each panel fea...

19th century framed painting of family crests was hand-painted in the late 19th century and framed in the 20th century. The artist used ink and wat...

Discover a work of rare elegance, now available on our site: a finely sculpted marble medallion from the renowned Wyon family, celebrated for their contributions to the art of medal-...

Decorate a kitchen wall with this French copper bassinoire, or bed warmer. Crafted in France circa 1880, the piece is dressed with a wooden handle, and features a copper vessel with lid...

Majolica strawberries plate Orchies, circa 1890.

Majolica butterfly plate Josef Steidl Znaim, circa 1890.

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...

Antique print titled 'Perdrix Gambra'. Original old bird print of a Barbary partridge. The Barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara) is a gamebird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae) of...

Antique print China titled 'Künste und Handwerke in China'. Beautiful print depicting the fabrication of ink, a ropemaker, a flower dealer, a hair ...

19th Century French Majolica apples fives Lille. Measure: 10.5 inches diameter.

19th Century French Blue & White Morning Glory Plate Vieillard Bordeaux. Diameter 8.8 inches.

A fine and large French 19th century old master school oil on canvas titled "Leda and The Swan" within a giltwood frame. Leda and the swan is a motif from Greek mythology, in which Z...

Great image of crocodiles and alligators. Unframed. It gives you the option of perhaps making a set up using your own choice of frames. Lithograph after Cpt. Brown with original ha...

Rare French Majolica Parrot cockatoo Wall Pocket Choisy Le Roi, Circa 1890. Extremely rare green colors.

French Majolica bird with grapes aqua plate signed Sarreguemines, circa 1880.

Original antique print of various owl species. This print originates from 'Bilderbuch fur Kinder' by F.J. Bertuch. Published circa 1800.

A pink-white, antique French still life oil on canvas painting depicting a working table with a yellow teapot vase with flowers, painted by Eugène Henri ...

Two rectangular panels each featuring a pair of cherubs amongst grape leaves and grapes. Would be great in a dining room.

19th Century English Majolica Leaves & White Flowers Plate.

Rare Majolica grapefruit plate, circa 1880, Fives Lille unsigned.

First the fragment has been hand backed on a linen fabric, then stretched over a wooden stretcher and finished with a wooden frame. Late 19th C. Bulgaria. Ready to go on a wall. Fra...

A very fine and Large Italian 18th-19th century oval-shaped oil on canvas titled "The Triumph of Venice" After the original work by Paolo Veronese (Venice, 1528-1588). The original of this painting hangs in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice. The 'Ricci' coloration suggests a late 17th-early 18th century date. In 1715 Charles de la Fosse advised Ricci to paint only "Veroneses and no more Riccis", Venice, circa 1800. Measures: Height: 45 1/4 inches (115 cm). Width: 29 inches (73.7 cm). Frame height: 58 1/4 inches (147.9 cm). Frame width: 43 1/4 inches (109.9 cm). Frame depth: 5 1/4 (13.3 cm). Provenance: Royal Academy of Scotland. Paolo Veronese (Born 1528, Verona, Republic of Venice - died April 9, 1588, Venice) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at...

Majolica plate signed Choisy le roi, circa 1890. Decorated with leaves, ferns, pink flowers and Greek border.

A woman's coat made of black silk with wide sleeves from Chinese late Qing Dynasty (mid to late 19th century), mounted and presented on blue linen board and framed as a stunning piec...

A pair of fine Korean silk embroidered rank badge (Hyungbae in Korean) from Joseon Dynasty circa late 19th century. A matching pair of Hyungbae like these ...

19th Century Palissy crabs wall platter signed Alfred Renoleau dated 1891-1894. The crabs are in high relief on a green seaweeds background. Reference/Pag...

An antique 19th century Regency hand crafted crest on a wooden wall panel. The crest depicts a handsome pair of mirroring dragons with elaborate tails and wings with a plain shield ...

Antique print titled 'Gezigt van Bolcheretskoi in Kamtschatka'. Antique view of Bolcheretskoi in Kamchatka. Originates from 'Reizen Rondom de Waereld door James Cook (..)'. Artis...

19th C signed Framed Horse Litho By Olso.

English set of four prints/original pages from the Repository of Arts & Science Magazine NO. LX. Dec. 1813. NO. LVIII. Oct. 1813. NO. LIV. June, 1813. NO. LIX. Nov. 1813. The Repos...

Green Majolica leaves plate, circa 1890.

Majolica grape plate Villeroy & Boch, circa 1890.

English Majolica game pie dish George Jones. Measures: Length / 10 inches on 7.5 inches, height / 6.5 inches.

Wonderful gothic architectural print. Cathedral of Salisbury and Rouen Steel engraving by R.P. Cuff after the original drawing by John Ruskin Published circa 1880 On wove quality...

Antique 19th century Portuguese Majolica Palissy style plate with large snake and large lizard searching through mossy tuft, signed Jose Alves Cunha (Caldas da Rainha) with snake, wo...

Set of eight antique mycology prints depicting various fungi / mushrooms. These prints originate from 'Flore mycologique illustrée: les champignons des Alpes-Maritimes' by J.B. Barla.

Antique costume print titled 'Paysanne des Environs de Madrid'. Old print depicting a farmer's wife from the region of Madrid, Spain. This print originates from 'Costumes Moderne (Mu...

Large wool and glass beads needlework panel of Mary Queen of Scots Scottish, circa 1870 Panel: Height 107cm, width 150cm, depth 2cm Frame: Height 155cm, width 187cm, depth 20cm Handmade by a group of Scottish sisters from the Stark family around 1870, this needlework picture panel portrays an important scene from British history. Mary Queen of Scots is seen weeping over the dying George Douglas of Lochleven at the Battle of Langside in which she was defeated. This event was significant because it let to Mary’s imprisonment in England under the command of Elizabeth I in 1568. The piece is crafted in polychrome wool with detailing such as jewellery or shadows are highlighted in shining glass beads. Charles Landseer’s painting...

French Majolica plate Onnaing Circa 1890. flowers and blackberries.

An antique pair of Grand Tour intaglios in wooden frames with a total a 72 medallions. Wear consistent with age and use. circa 19th century, Italy.

A rare pair of finely embroidered silk civil rank badge panel framed in a black carved wood frame circa late Qing dynasty (mid-late 19th century). The square rank badge is known in C...

Elegant blue and white oyster plate signed Bordeaux Vieillard, circa 1890. Six wells surrounded by blue seaweeds of different kinds.

Fabulous map of The Philippines Original color. Engraved and printed by the George F. Cram Company, Indianapolis. Published, C.1900. Unframed. Free shipping.

Antique print titled 'Strix Otus'. The long-eared owl (Asio otus), also known as the northern long-eared owl, is a species of owl which breeds in Europe, Asia, and North America. Thi...

English oil on canvas painting of horse in stable with the gilt & burl frame. Signed & Dated "J. Brown Coventry 1866"

A beautiful antique pub scene themed wall decoration plate or sign. This decorative item would make a beautiful ornament on each wall. Made in the 1890s it i...

Antique print titled 'Het witte huis-konijn, het rots zeezwijntje, de berghaas. Original old print of a rabbit, hares, pika and other rodents. This print originates from 'Volledige n...

Wonderful image of Montreal Fine steel engraving Published by Thomas Kelly, London circa 1840 Unframed.