10194 A rare pair of English Regency bronze chenets following the designs of Thomas Hope, a seated Egyptian priest with arms folded, his garment with hieroglyph inscription, on a raised rectangular plinth base with gilded scarab beetle. Signs of grate and fender fixings. Originally patinated bronze with the scarab in gilt bronze, now polished and the patination subsequently removed.
English
1800-1805
Height: 13.75 ins (35 cms)
Base width: 4 ins (10 cms)
Base depth: 5.75 ins (14.5 cms) £16,000
Description
This very rare, possibly unique, pair of chenets are clearly shown in the engravings of Thoms Hope’s Duchess Street mansion, entitled Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807). Plate 10 illustrates a ‘boudoir fitted up for the reception of a few Egyptian, Hindoo, and Chinese idols and curiosities.’
Originally finished in patinated bronze and with some details in gilded bronze, these chenets would have had a fender stretching between them and would have been fixed into a marble opening with fixing spikes to the rear.
Without a secure provenance it is impossible to be certain that they are from Hope’s collection but the exact correlation between his designs and our figures make this a possibility.
