Pair of Antique Lead Roundels on Bespoke Stands

Pair of Antique Lead Roundels on Bespoke Stands

• Contintental (French or Italian)19th Century
• Possibly based on the classical antiquity depicting Literature and Agriculture
• The casting, quality and condition are all very good
• The faces are very appealing

A very charming pair of antique lead roundels based on the classical antiquity. Are they English or European, French or Italian? The quality is good enough to be someone like Bromsgrove Guild, but attribution is proving difficult and ongoing.

One depicts a young scholarly Boy, dressed in a loose robe, seated and holding, a scribe in one hand and in the other, a scroll. His feet are bare and he glances upwards lost in thought or contemplation.

The other shows a young girl, also draped in a loose robe, with the wind blowing her robe and a ponytail that holds in place her wavy hair, out from behind her. She is kneeling, perhaps in servitude or reverence in bare feet. She holds out both her arms, and gazes down towards her hands. In one hand she holds a small bowl, the other seems to be taking something from the bowl to perhaps offer it's contents or to throw them to the wind.

Both figures are held within an integral thick lead frame, the circumference of which is decorated with a petal and bead design. The figures and frames are decorated in the round and extend slightly beyond the frames housing, giving a wonderful three dimensional appearance.

The figures and the frames have been painted. The figures a grey colour, to depict lead or stone, and the frames more of a buff terracotta colour, to depict perhaps stone or terracotta. This is likely also to have been done to help protect these pieces from the elements, as these were clearly architectural features of some kind, possibly windows or even part of a series of figures along a wall or balcony and could have been created for a Church or very wealthy home. They retain their original lugs where they were attached to masonry or stone work.

The casting, the quality and condition are all very good and importantly the faces are very appealing.

These are heavy items as you can imagine, and the stands were made specifically for these pieces, and as well as being presented as pieces of sculpture in their own right, they could of course be integrated as unique features in a house or building design, and would make an incredible feature as part of a bespoke pair of impressive entry gates.