SOLD
Origin: British
Period: Late Victorian
Provenance: from a Scottish Country House
Date: c.1900
Height: 43”
Width: 24”
Depth: 18”
The Bases: 13” Square

The three-piece stone country house urns, being wonderfully decorative, with each urn having scrolled neoclassical handles and issuing metallic painted tole sprays of flowers with three flower heads to each, to socle supports and square bases; the wholes surviving from the zeniths of the nineteenth century and from a Scottish country house.

The condition of the wholes is mostly pleasing with a good even spread of weathering commensurate with exposure to the elements giving them an evocative all-round character and colour. There are lichen deposits to each. Two of the scrolled handles have old repairs as photographed and there are some chips to the bases.

The term tôle, derived from the French tôle peinte, "painted sheet metal", is synonymous in English usage with japanning on tin, such as the tôle shades for bouilotte lamps and other candle shades, and trays and lidded canisters. It is far less commonly seen on exterior items such as these and we haven’t seen any other comparable examples.

A wonderful pair that cross over into the world of sculpture and could just as easily sit inside as they could out.
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