The Stork & The Fox
A George II Statuary Marble Chimneypiece Tablet, Circa 1750
Attributed to Thomas Carter the Elder (1702-1756)
Provenance: Private Collection (United Kingdom)
Height: 28cm Width: 60cm Depth: 4cm
A finely carved marble tablet illustrating Aesop's fable, The Stork and The Fox. The composition centres on a fox and a stork beside a tall-necked vase, beneath the flowering branches and flanked by a rocky outcrop and stylised foliage. The narrative derives from Aesop's cautionary tale in which the fox, having played a trick on the stork, is in turn outwitted - an enduring moral theme popular in mid 18th century decorative arts.
A closely related tablet - with near identical rendering of the fox, stork and vase, though with subtle variations to the flanking elements - is incorporated in a chimneypiece in the Little Drawing Room at Upper House, West Sussex. There, a suite of marble fireplaces was supplied by Thomas Carter the Elder between 1746 and 1756, for which he received the substantial sum of nearly £1,000 (see Upper, West Sussex, National Trust, 1999). For a visual reference, see National Trust Photographic Archive, image no. 1132 (1989).
Another example of this composition appears on the G200 chimneypiece offered by Jamb, London, attributed to Carter's workshop.
Attributed to Thomas Carter the Elder (1702-1756)
Provenance: Private Collection (United Kingdom)
Height: 28cm Width: 60cm Depth: 4cm
A finely carved marble tablet illustrating Aesop's fable, The Stork and The Fox. The composition centres on a fox and a stork beside a tall-necked vase, beneath the flowering branches and flanked by a rocky outcrop and stylised foliage. The narrative derives from Aesop's cautionary tale in which the fox, having played a trick on the stork, is in turn outwitted - an enduring moral theme popular in mid 18th century decorative arts.
A closely related tablet - with near identical rendering of the fox, stork and vase, though with subtle variations to the flanking elements - is incorporated in a chimneypiece in the Little Drawing Room at Upper House, West Sussex. There, a suite of marble fireplaces was supplied by Thomas Carter the Elder between 1746 and 1756, for which he received the substantial sum of nearly £1,000 (see Upper, West Sussex, National Trust, 1999). For a visual reference, see National Trust Photographic Archive, image no. 1132 (1989).
Another example of this composition appears on the G200 chimneypiece offered by Jamb, London, attributed to Carter's workshop.