A MAGNIFICENT PALLADIAN CHIMNEYPIECE AFTER A DESIGN BY WILLIAM KENT

June 16 2009, 9:34am

English. Nineteenth Century. This exceptional chimneypiece is almost identical to the celebrated chimney designed by William Kent and executed by Rysbrack which stands in the marble-lined dining room at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Houghton, built for Sir Robert Walpole, was one of the most magnificent country houses of the Palladian period, and the similarities between the present piece and the chimney at Houghton lead one to believe that this chimney must also have formed part of another grand scheme in the Kentian tradition. William Kent's involvement with the decoration of Houghton is confirmed by a number of contemporary accounts. Rysbrack's work on the dining room chimney is confirmed by Lord Oxford, who visited Houghton in 1732. Evidently the dining-room was among the last rooms to be completed at the house as he reported that a chimney "of exquisite workmanship" was being made by Rysbrack to a design by Kent.