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 ebony, silver inlay, mounted with Tulyakov jasper, lapis lazuli, agate, amber, striated green glass and with silver inlay. Each in the form of a tapering obelisk, panelled to the front and inlaid with shaped hardstones, raised on four ball feet above a rectangular plinth panelled to the front and set with shaped stones above a molded edge set on a plain frieze with inlaid stone to the front, above a plain plinth base.

The present pair of oval paintings represent the mythological figures of Hercules and Cronos. The composition of the paintings is closely related to the forms of antique sculpture, here given greater animation and a baroque sense of drama. Hercules is shown at the height of his powers with a massive, bulky presence and the closely trimmed beard of a young man. He is often depicted in a similar pose, astride the Nemean lion, whose slaying was the first of his twelve labors. The second painting depicts Cronos or Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture who, in his Greek manifestation, features in the myth of creation and came to be associated with Time. He is always shown as an aged man, with a long beard and without the strident virility of the younger Hercules. As the deity of agriculture and of time, he rests on a scythe with a snake consuming itself, an ancient symbol of eternity, hanging from the withered branch on which he leans.

Of tempera on wooden board. Provenance: Galleria d'Arte Galatea, Torino.

Axel Salto (1889-1961) is counted among the masters of Danish design, although his overtly decorative work often went against the functionalist aesthetics of his contemporaries and successors. During his lifetime he was regarded as a pioneer of Danish twentieth century design and his pieces were acquired for the collection at the Copenhagen Industrial Arts Museum. Salto's early work, of which present paintings form part, was inspired by classical languages and Greek mythology as well as by the visual motifs of Art Deco, religious and especially demonic iconography. His ceramic work later turned to the forms of nature, like seedpods, budding flowers or fruit, for their fertile energy and form. Salto's work was unique for its time because of his uninhibited, passionate approach to developing and manipulating new shapes and colors. His awards included a silver medal at the 1925 Paris World Exhibition, the 1937 Paris World Exhibition Grand Prix and the 1951 Milan Triennial Grand Prix.

The present pair of knife boxes belong to a tradition of decorative cutlery cases made in the late Federal period. Before silver drawers were incorporated into sideboards, knife boxes were meant to sit atop staple dining room furniture singularly or in pairs. These cases were chiefly made of mahogany, which became the favorite primary wood used in furniture after its introduction in the colonies. Although no overtly similar pieces have been located, making comparative interpretation problematic, the overall design, certain decorative elements, and acquisition history in Baltimore (along with a pair of card tables which are most certainly of Baltimore origin), suggest the origin of the knife boxes. Furthermore, the secondary woods of poplar and white pine, although not exclusionary, support the attribution.

Probably Brazilian. Circa 1755. Of jacaranda. Each with a shaped pierced back surmounted by a carved rocaille scroll above a shaped splat, the original embossed leather seat depicting a cupid, the seat above the shaped and carved apron, the whole raised on four legs, the front pair of cabriole form terminating in hooved feet, the outswept rear legs, the legs united by a shaped stretcher.

French In The English Manner. Circa 1810. Of mahogany and gilt brass. Each of tub-back form, the shaped top rail carved with two rosettes, the upholstered back flanked by two downswept arms, each terminating in a scroll centred by a rosette, the seat resting above a frieze panelled to the front and flanked with two carved rosettes, the whole raised on four sabre legs, the front pair panelled, each leg terminating in a gilt brass lotus leaf foot raised on a castor.

Venice. Signed with Initials T e H R and Dated 1711. The present chairs are bold and over-scale examples of the exuberantly carved and vividly coloured chairs being created in the early part of the eighteenth century to furnish the enchantingly sensuous palazzos of Venice, then "an enchanted city of carnivals, masques, amusement and pretence." The presence to the reverse of the chairs of a date and signature is extremely rare on an early eighteenth century piece of Italian furniture and dates them precisely to 1711. The chairs are an example of the modified form in which the high-backed chair of the renaissance persisted into the eighteenth century, ranged with cabinets and tables against the walls of the grand formal rooms of Italian palazzos. The unusual survival of a design for a chair in the Fondazione Fantoni, Rovetta, illustrates the elaborate form that such chairs attained in Italy.

English. Circa 1770. Of giltwood. The curved oval backs with carved frame raised on foliate carved supports above a shaped seat rail, with serpentine frame, the curving arm rests with scrolling handles on carved uprights, the whole raised on four cabriole legs.

English. Circa 1755. Of mahogany, each with arched back filled with tubular bars. The well drawn outswept arms raised on profoundly incurved supports. The dished solid mahogany seat above four square legs, the front slightly curved and with shaped ears, all united by bar stretchers and raised on four original leather wheeled brass castors.

English. Circa 1755. Of mahogany, each with arched back filled with tubular bars. The well drawn outswept arms raised on profoundly incurved supports. The dished solid mahogany seat above four square legs, the front slightly curved and with shaped ears, all united by bar stretchers and raised on four original leather wheeled brass castors.

Copenhagen. Circa 1770. Of carved deal retaining their original gilding and bevelled mirror plates. Each rectangular frame with ribbon and reed carved decoration with inner twist mouldings enclosing shaped bevelled divided mirror plates. The elaborately carved crest surmounted by a stylised vase resting on a stepped podium from which issue heavy floral swags tied by a ribbon. The apron with floral festoons fixed to the sides with plain turned bosses.

English. Circa 1810. One of the earliest and best-known depictions of a convex mirror occurs in the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Jan Van Eyck’s 1434 (National Gallery, London). To make a convex plate at this early date probably involved use of the blown method, an extremely skilled and costly process that made such pieces the preserve of the very wealthy. It was not until the latter part of the eighteenth century that such mirror plates could be made in a mold. The present pair of mirrors epitomizes Regency decoration, particularly in the eagles that surmount each. The eagle was a symbol of might and triumph, and “is often represented on Regency convex mirror frames grasping a chain in its mouth. The eagle sits above a crossed bough of sprigs of oak leaves and acorns, which are repeated among other foliate decoration in the apron. The oak, adopted as the national tree of England, is a symbol of virtue, strength and endurance.

Of limewood with original green-painted and faux porphyry decoration. Each surmounted by a circular gadrooned top above a shaped stem with reeded central section and anthemion decoration raised on four winged female figures and a pylon shaped faux porphyry base decorated to each side with a wreath and crossed poles with acorn finials, the whole raised on four bold paw feet and a square faux porphyry plinth with canted corners. These exceptionally sophisticated pair of torcheres are identical to a single example in the Victoria and Albert Museum. They originally formed part of the collection of the Earl of Lascelles, at the great Yorkshire mansion, Harewood House, built between 1759 and 1771 by a combination of the architects John Carr and Robert Adam.

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 silver-plated tin. The circular corona issuing stylized foliate fronds above a moulded band surmounting the pierced spreading body composed of roundels, facing C-scrolls, flowerheads and S scrolls and acanthus leaves, the body centred by a stylized pierced undulating frieze issuing eight drip-pans raised on shaped brackets, the frieze above a shaped drum similarly composed with shaped S-scrolls and acanthine fronds terminating in an inverted finial.

Of walnut ebony and bone. The octagonal top with raised rim inlaid with eight-pointed star of ebony and bone, the pierced barley twist stem centred with a turned coller, the stem set on a polygonal base with moulded rim raised on three ebonised bun feet. In his book English Furniture 1660-1714: From Charles II to Queen Anne, Adam Bowett illustrates a candlestand of strikingly similar form to the present examples, pointing out the rarity of the pierced double-bind turning. The close similarity of the pieces is not limited to the form and construction of the stem, but also extends to the shaped and inlaid base raised on bun feet and the tray to the top.

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 carved giltwood. Each with rock work drip pan raised on a shaped shaft lapped by foliate decoration and resting on a triform base carved with flowers and scrolled feet.