An Italian neoclassical carved white marble pedestal, circa 1780

The design of this tripod pedestal is quintessentially neoclassical and would have appealed to contemporary taste in the late 18^th century at a time, in Italy but also in England where architects like Robert Adam were transforming the English country house in the ‘antique’ style.

The Vitruvian scroll, the egg-and-dart frieze, the gadroons to the legs, and the bucrania are all characteristics of neoclassical objects which were inspired from antique models excavated throughout the 18^th century and led to a fascination for Antiquity and Classicism in the late 18^th century. Antique models related to the present include one tripod from Villa Borioni in Rome (according to a drawing at the Victoria & Albert Museum, acc. no. 5712:373) and a famous Penthelic marble antique fountain with a central spiralling stem, found at the Villa Adriana at Tivoli. Another interesting tripod with an egg-and-dart frieze and bucrania originates from Casa Gualtieri and is illustrated in Lorenzo Rocchegiani’s Monumenti Antichi (tav. LXXX). The motif of the horse leg and lock of hair is however quite unusual and is skillfully rendered.