This sculpture is presented as a Grecian herm or boundary-marker. The original Greek herms were depicted exclusively as Hermes, the god of traffic, roads and boundaries. They were dedicated to him for protection and erected as markers in the countryside and in the streets and squares of towns. Herms began as simple quadrangular pillars topped with the head of the god, but evolved to represent a greater number of deities in the pantheon, and to incorporate more elaborate carving (figure 1). The Romans subsequently adopted this form of statue as decorative sculpture for gardens and villas.

Figure 1

The bronze head of this herm represents the god of wine and revelry, Dyonisus/Bacchus, crowned with a wreath of ivy leaves, a plant much esteemed by the ancients. Binding the brow with ivy was thought to prevent intoxication, as was boiling the plant with wine and drinking it. Ivy is also commonly depicted entwined around the thrysic wand, another of Dyonisus’ attributes. Rouge et gris marble drapery wraps his truncated shoulders and tapered marble pillar support, while the bronze stepped plinth is wreathed by laurels and a ‘Venus’ pearl-string, which evoke the triumph of lyric poetry. The prototype of the present example exists in the magnificent Villa Borghese Rome, where it occupies a prominent position in the main hall (figure 2). The Borghese herm, of alabastro a rosa, was commissioned in the early 1770s for the Villa by Don Camillo, Prince Marcantonio Borghese (d.1800) and executed by the Rome-based silversmith and bronze-founder, Luigi Valadier. Valadier began working for the Borghese in 1759, when he took over the workshop of his father, Andrea. He worked in gold, silver, bronze and precious stones and marbles, producing both religious works at the patronage of the Pope Pius VI and the Vatican, and secular pieces for Italy’s noble families.

Figure 2

The present herm, although executed in a different marble, is made of almost identical, extremely fine bronze elements. The right shoulder bears a plaque, inscribed: G. Nisini – Roma, signifying the work of the Giovanni Nisini bronze foundry of Rome.  Nisini, whose showroom stood at 63 via del Babuino, won gold medals at the 1894 Antwerp Exhibition and the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. The firm’s work included lost wax casts of sculptures from the ancient world, as well as important works from artists of the 18th through the 20th centuries.

The marble that forms the body of the herm is noteworthy in possessing unusual coloration and grain pattern. According to eminent British geologist Robin Sanderson, it is a reef limestone from the Devonian epoch, circa 380 million years ago, and was probably quarried in Wallonia, Belgium. Its structure is formed of fossil debris and remains of cementing calcareous algae. The deep blood red color attests to its high ferrous content. Considering the availability of rare decorative marbles in Italy in the 19th century, Nissini must have thought highly of this stone to have it transported from far away Belgium.

This herm formerly belonged to the collection at Rosenholm Castle in Jutland (figure 3), built in the Italian Renaissance style for Vice Chancellor Joergen Rosenkrantz and completed in 1570. In the 1740s the interior was remodeled in the Baroque style. The castle remains in the private ownership of the Rosenkrantz family and is acknowledged as one of the most beautiful and best preserved Renaissance castles in Europe. Figure 3

The art of crafting decorative objects from hardstones developed in Western Europe in the Renaissance, but in Russia, the lapidary arts did not flourish until the mid-18th century, when St. Petersburg was being built. Peter the Great founded the first imperial Russian lapidary in 1721. By 1800 Russia's rich mineral deposits were vastly exploited and countless varieties of stone were discovered; interest in geologic exploration was so intense it had been called "a common disease" by Empress Catherine the Great. This pair of candlesticks is an example of the early work of the Russian manufactories. A pair of columnar table decorations made at Kolyvan in 1790 for the Stroganoff Palace, now in The Hermitage, are a related example from the late 18th century. Both pairs use red jasper for the top and base, and quartz for the shaft. Count Alexander Stroganoff (1733-1811) was a great patron of the arts, president of the Imperial Academy of Arts and director of the Imperial Lapidary works.

Of gilt bronze. Each in the form of a trophy surmounted by a stylized foliate paterae, composed of flowers foliage and instruments of music, agriculture and the hunt, each issuing four curving arms with scrolling foliate decoration terminating in foliate drip pans and stiff-leaf nozzles. Marked to the reverse with a C inside a lozenge.

Of carved pine painted to simulate bronze. Each with a circular top edged with a tongue and dart moulding above a baluster shaped stem, the stem fluted above a collar carved with four lions heads hung with brass rings, the collar above stiff leaf and acanthine carving, the stem on a triform waisted socle carved with acanthus leaves, the whole raised on four paw feet and a triform marbleised plinth base.

Of patinated bronze and alabaster. The six arms, each shaped as a pair of facing cobras, their bodies intertwined around a bronze ring and supporting an alabaster shade, the snakes curving upwards towards the centre and terminating into stylised acanthus leaves of dark green patinated bronze.

Italian. Nineteenth Century. Identical terms to the present example exist in the magnificent Borghese Villa in Rome, occupying prominent positions in both the main hall and the fourth room of the gallery. Although executed in different marble to the current piece the extremely fine bronze elements appear to be from the same cast as those on the present term. The Castle of Rosenholm in Jutland was built for Vice Chancellor Joergen Rosenkrantz and was completed in 1570. It remains in the private ownership of the Rosenkrantz family and is acknowledged as one of the most beautiful and best preserved renaissance castles in Europe.

A very similar table can be seen in William Odom's book, A History of Italian Furniture. The table Odom illustrates is of walnut with elongated drawers, however the identical Greek key frieze below the drawers, coupled with the closely comparable fluted tapering legs and fluted corner-posts strongly suggest that both pieces share the same maker. The table illustrated by Odom is described as being either 'Liguria or Emilia, Late XVIII Century'

Of finely figured amboyna. The serpentine shaped top above a plain undulating frieze, fitted at each end with a drawer centred by a gilt bronze rococo escutcheon. The whole raised on four well drawn canted cabriole legs.

Of mahogany. The bow shaped top comprising three sections, each inlaid with an oval panel against a quarter veneered ground, the central section fitted with a mirror to the reverse lifting to reveal a shallow well and forming a dressing mirror when upright, the hinged flanking sections opening outwards to reveal two deeper wells each fitted with a sliding drawer, the top above a kneehole surmounted by a single drawer and flanked to each side by two smaller drawers, the whole raised on four cabriole legs each terminating in a scrolling gilt bronze foot.

Naples. Circa 1760. Of kingwood with gilt bronze mounts. The serpentine quarter veneered shaped tip with end grain ovolo edge and covered by an eight petaled floral motif composed of kingwood hearts. The bombé and serpentine front fitted with three drawers including a concealed frieze drawer. The two lower drawers fitted with complex rococo gilt bronze handles and escutcheons and centred by an eight petaled inlaid floral motif. The sides similarly inlaid and set with floral gilt bronze mounts to the corners. The whole resting on four elegantly sprayed chevron veneered legs ending in gilt bronze floral sabots.

Of ebonised wood with gilt bronze mounts. The rectangular top inset with a leather panel and encased with a gilt bronze moulded edge, the panelled frieze fitted with three drawers to the front, each edged with gilt bronze moulding and centred by a cartouche key-escutcheon and foliate drop handle, the frieze fully dummied to the reverse. The whole raised on four circular, tapering and fluted legs, each leg headed by an acanthine capital, the flutes with bronze festoon mounts, each leg terminating in acanthine decoration and a toupie foot.

French. Circa 1805. This highly unusual and beautifully crafted table is set with medals by the celebrated French medallist, engraver and illustrator Bertrand Andrieu (1761-1822). The medals, which are mounted to the centre of the concave panels of the base of the table are double sized examples of a medal issued in 1801 that served as a prize medal for the Exhibition of French Industrial Products held in Paris in 1801-2. The table on which the medals are mounted appears to be unique in its design, with an octagonal top above a four-sided concave panelled base, one side of which is a door opening to create a cabinet within the base. The bronze feet, which are modelled in the form of winged lion monopodia are also unusual in that the balls on which the the monopodia are raised are ingeniously designed, each intergrating a castor without disturbing the perfect sphere of the brass ball.

New York. Circa 1900. Edward Caldwell began his career as a lighting designer at the New York-based gas lighting manufactory Archer & Pancoast in the late 1880s. His pieces were often based on historical models, but Caldwell also excelled in conceiving original designs which he produced to fit his clients' individual decorative demands. The quality of his work often rivaled the 18th- and 19th-century prototypes from which he drew, and, particularly in his gilding, Caldwell’s techniques were far superior to those of his contemporaries. Caldwell’s work appeared in prominent buildings such as the White House and the Waldorf Astoria, and in homes of affluent New Yorkers including Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie. The design for the present chandeliers was undoubtedly taken from a model made by Francis Garthorne (fl. 1690-1713) for the King’s Presence Chamber at Hampton Court (circa 1690), the former royal residence, now part of the Royal Collection.

Continental. The Figures Circa 1730. The Candelabra Nineteenth Century. This pair of figural candelabra uses the intriguing combination of gilt-bronze and carved wood. The delightful figures represent jesters or sprightly figures, dwarfed by the foliate candle arms they sit beneath. It is more traditional for the anthropomorphic shapes in figural candelabra to be incorporated into the design, most often acting as supports for the lighting elements. Because the present figures pre-date the pair of candelabra they adorn, they are allowed to remain passive and decorative rather than functional. A comparable concept is seen on some Louis XV and XVI gilt-bronze candelabra, which sometimes incorporate earlier Chinese figural porcelain. However, the use of carved wood in combination with gilt-bronze is extremely uncommon.