WICK ANTIQUES LTD Building and Garden Elements

A Fine and Interesting Pair of Late 19th Century Gothic Revival Ormolu Andirons or Fire Dogs These exceptional andirons are likely French and date to around 1880. Produced in the Go...

An unusual pair of Victorian marble revolving topped pedestals. One marked ‘Forced Lesson’, one marked ‘Forced Prayer’. These beautiful pedestals were clearly designed to hold sculptures with the titles of the works inscribed on the stems. The fact that the pedestals, and therefore the related artworks, were clearly made as a pair has allowed us to research them and we are delighted to have discovered that, at the Melbourne International exhibition in 1880, Pietro Bazzanti and Son of Florence exhibited two artworks with the names Forced Prayer and Forced Lesson (items 338 and 339). Another artist also exhibited a piece titled Forced Prayer at the same exhibition but Forced Lesson is a very unusual title and, as stated before, the fact that the pieces were clearly intended to be a pair reinforces the attribution of provenance in this case. These fine pedestals are a very practical and usable size and the carved swag and star detailing are very desirable attributes. They would make a fine pair of display stands for vases...

A carved fire surround from Sir Winston Churchill’s drawing room. This carved pine fire surround combines elements of both Rococo and Palladian designs. It has a shaped cornice abov...

This pine chimneypiece has a swan-neck pediment supporting three pedestals, with dentil and leaf borders. There is a central limewood oval portrait of Robert Marsham, 2nd Baron Romney carved in relief and suspended by acanthus and tied ribbons. The frieze below is also applied with limewood carving of naval trophies, emblematic of seamanship and learning, flanking a central tablet depicting a reclining Marine Society boy. The supports are composed of large fluted columns with Ionic capitals and edged with egg and dart borders and leaf-carved mouldings. English, 1775. Provenance: Supplied by Mr. Tousey for the Committee Room of the Marine Society at No. 54 Bishopsgate Street, London, in April 1775 at a cost of £30.15s 6d removed to Clark’s Place, Bishopsgate Street, London, in 1891 Published: Woodman, Richard “…..of daring temper 250 years of the Marine Society.” London 2006, pp 24-25. Bosanquet, Henry T. A., The Marine Society, A Catalogue of the Pictures and other Works of Art, 1905, p. 14. The Marine Society is the world’s oldest public maritime charity and was the brainchild of Jonas Hanway. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War, he reflected on Britain’s woefully undermanned and ill-equipped navy. His idea was to ensure that young men and boys who wished to ‘learn the duty of seaman…shall be handsomely clothed and provided with bedding, and their charges born down to the ports where His Majesty’s Ships lye with all other proper encouragement.’ During the ensuing hostilities the Society equipped 5,140 men and 4,787 boys for the Navy. In 1793 Admiral Lord Nelson, a governor of the Society, requested 20 lads to join his 64-gun ship Agamemnon at Chatham. By the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, at least 15% of British naval manpower was being supplied, trained and equipped by the Marine Society. By 1774, the Society had outgrown its offices in the Royal Exchange and moved to 54 Bishopsgate Street. Detailed minutes of the weekly Committee meetings describe the furnishing of the Society’s new Committee Room, including ‘a carved chimneypiece...

A pair of superb quality Victorian brass fenders, each with rounded and moulded ends and four small turned finials, decorated with pierced tied bows in the frieze. English 1860.

A William IV amboyna and rosewood table / jardiniere, in two sections with a fitted circular cover above a sloping bowl enclosing a replaced brass lining, bold gadrooning to the unde...

A set of Regency mahogany metamorphic library steps, this sturdy armchair unfolds to reveal four leather-inset steps which rest on the cresti...

An Anglo-Indian solid ebony jardiniere, the circular brass bowl (replaced) set into an ebony tripod base with a turned, knopped support on three elephant-h...

A late George III brass bound bucket, of oval shape with the mahogany timbers held by brass bands and with a hinged brass handle. English, circa 181...

A George III fiddleback mahogany table jardinière, of sarcophagus form with two turned handles on tapering supports, decorated with shaped panels of plain mahogany within Fine boxwoo...

A pair of large cast iron andirons in the form of Tweedleddee and Tweedledum, late 19th century.

A large Edwardian copper-bound teak log box, the square section container with rounded corners, flanged rim and foot and encircled by four copper bands, the ti...