Architectural Heritage PERIOD GARDEN STATUARY AND ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Architectural Heritage, established 35 years, has a worldwide reputation for providing fine period garden ornament, bespoke stone fire surrounds and a personal service to discerning professional and private clients alike. To complement the extensive inventory of period statuary, fountains, urns and seats etc, Architectural Heritage has developed a collection of reproduction garden ornament and hand carved stone chimneypieces; employing the talents of master craftsmen in the disciplines of stone and marble masonry, bronze and lead casting and age patinated artificial stone, to recreate the very best of 18th and 19th century design. The full inventory is on display in the galleries and grounds of Taddington Manor and also available to view on our regularly updated website. Please do contact us for further information or to receive our reproduction catalogue. Architectural Heritage undertakes commissions to client specifications for garden ornament and chimneypieces. delivery and shipping worldwide can be arranged. Period Garden Statuary & Architectural Elements [ ] Architectural Heritage PERIOD GARDEN STATUARY AND ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS [ ] Introduction This fourth Period Garden Statuary and Architectural Ele­ ments catalogue ushers in a new era following the retirement of my parents, Adrian and Suzy Puddy, founders of Architectural Heritage some 35 years ago. Architectural Heritage in its present form now encompasses five distinctly different yet related areas of business: Period Garden Statuary Period Architectural Elements 20th Century and Contemporary Sculpture Fine Reproduction Garden Ornament Bespoke Stone Fire Surrounds This catalogue represents the heart of the company and highlights my desire to present fine examples of period garden statuary from the 18th, 19th and early 0th centuries, alongside unique period architectural elements. Exceptional works in this catalogue include a 17th century oak staircase, provenanced to Ruthin Castle and by repute Wynnstay Hall, and a period oak ceiling, from Lavenham Suffolk, provenanced to the estate of Randolph Hearst. For garden statuary, an interesting discovery here in England of the famous bronze Duck Girl fountain by the American sculptress, Edith Parsons. Interesting and collectable pieces do not necessarily have to be highly priced; a case in point would be the rare signed pair of Compton Pottery pots, produced by the Pottery which was known for its philanthropic apprenticeships, with works being sold through Liberty in London in the early 0th century. Also shown here are examples of works by the Bromsgrove Guild, another interesting enclave of British craftsmanship, produc­ ing the highest quality lead and iron work in the early 0th century, alongside fine composition pieces for the garden. I hope you find this catalogue of interest and an enjoyable read. Alex Puddy [ 5 ] Fountains ‘A spring of water, a jet, a structure for supplying drinking water, an ornamental structure with jets, spouts and basins of water.’ Water flows through the history of gardens with no boundaries of time or culture. At the birth of civilisation in Mesopotamia, water and fountains were used extensively in the formal gardens, and hieroglyphs in Egyptian tombs show the fountain in enclosed courtyards. From the imperial gar­ dens of China and Japan, to the Persians, Moguls and Moors, the fountains of Al Hambra being the best known, all civilisa­ tions used the fountain in some form. The Romans with their aqueducts moved water great dist­ ances, and from their ready supply of water many fountains were provided for. It is this Roman technology of hydrau­ lics, rediscovered in Vetruvius’ manuscript in the early 15th century, which helped Italian engineers to grasp how to raise water with the aid of machinery to high cisterns that would then gravity­feed fountains with water under pressure. This technique also allowed small bronzes by the likes of Donatello and later Verrocchio, to more or less spout water continuous­ ly. Prior to this, the spring would have been enhanced to pro­ vide power, as one would assume would have been the case in England for the simple 13th century Medieval stand fountain. The Italian gardens of the latter half of the 16th century took the use of water in the garden to exuberant heights. Although mostly spring­fed, Villa d’Este had its terrace of one hundred fountains, dragon fountain and many­breasted Diana of the Ephesians, the goddess of Fecundity, issuing water at every turn. The gardens of the Villa Aldobrandini, started slightly later in 1598, also boasted cascades, jets and rills, as well as A lead figure of Neptune by Wheeler Williams (American, 1897­197), numbered and signed Neptune, No. 40, Wheeler Williams 1939. This model and others were exhibited in an exhibition ‘Childhood of the Gods’ at Guildhall, East Hampton circa 190. Williams studied sculpture at the School of Art Institute in Chicago and graduated from Yale in 1919. He received a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard in 19 and studied at the École des Beaux­Arts in Paris. Williams was a recipient of a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition in 1937 and was a member of the National Sculpture Society. He was also the founder and president of the American Artist Professional League. Height ´ 9˝ [8 cm] Width 1´ ˝ [1 cm] Overall Depth 9½˝ [ cm] [ 8 ] joke fountains which were subsequently incorporated into the Villa d’Este scheme. On the translation around 1580 of Hero of Alexandria’s Pneumatica (1st century A.D.) a further wealth of Roman knowledge describing valves, siphons and vacuums helped create water­powered singing birds, organs and even little boys peeing! These squirty jets were designed to catch the unsuspecting visitor as they sat, passed by walls or walked through arches. [ 9 ] The 17th century saw this technology to wet or drench and spout spread throughout northern Europe, and allowed design­ ers to create ever larger spectacles, as in the case of Salomon de Caus’ fountain for Somerset House around 1610, which was some 80 feet in diameter and was subsequently moved to Hampton Court in 1655. It is to Versailles that we turn to see the most impressive use of water. After Louis XV saw Nicholas Fouquet’s garden at Vaux le Vicomte in 1661, his envy was so great that he arrested Fouquet and took many of his statues and fountains. He then went on to transform out of all recognition the once moderate royal chateau gardens and park at Versailles. When completed at the time of Louis XV’s death around 50 years later, some 100 fountains gushed ‘à gueule bée’, or full throated, and could be seen from every vista. Drawing water from the Seine the Machine de Marly, with its 1 water wheels, gave the force re­ quired. Previously however, due to the lack of pumping power, the King would have had to plan his route to allow fountains to be turned on and then off as he processed. Today we still marvel at the Sun Horses, Apollo and the fountain of Latona, but one can only imagine the sight of all the fountains working à gueule bée. Versailles, as one might have expected, did not go unno­ ticed among the patrons of the great gardens of Europe and America. From Peterhoff to Middleton Place in Charleston, to Chatsworth with its Sea Horse and Triton fountains, the grand formal garden and fountain had arrived in style. Another leap forward in hydraulics came in 1696 with the publication of Carlo Fontana’s The Most Useful Treatise on Moving Waters. This coincided with the completion in 1703 of a grand cascade at Chatsworth and with the long cascade com­ pleted in the Bridgmanesque landscape at Stanway House in [ 10 ] A copper sail fountain, circa 1950, having a central jet with multiple jets to the edges of the sail, mounted upon a circular domed copper base. Height 3´ 3˝ [99 cm] Overall width 1´ 7˝ [8 cm] Diameter at base 1´ 3˝ [38 cm] [ 11 ] 1730. It is worth noting around this time the Trevi Fountain in Rome was also completed. The change in taste in 18th century England meant the fountain on a grand scale was not so in fashion; grottos, water­ falls and tranquil lakes were more in vogue in the ‘natural’ landscapes of Archadia and Capability Brown. The 19th century brought with it the Industrial Revolu­ tion, more technology and new materials. Humphrey Repton in 1800 reintroduced the fountain to the garden at Harewood House inside a greenhouse. Chatsworth and Stanway compet­ ed for the highest gravity­fed jet d’eau, the former reaching some 6 feet in 1844, though Stanway now holds this record at over 300 feet. The Great Exhibition in 1851 showcased the cast iron fountains from Handyside and Coalbrookdale, along with Blanchard, Blashfield, and Pulham’s ‘Pulhamite’ terra­ cotta creations. Stone as a material was not ignored, with the Atlas fountain carved in Portland stone by John Thomas being purchased from the Exhibition by the wealthy Seventh Earl of Carlisle for Castle Howard. The end of the 19th century saw the taste for the extravagant continue, with such fountains as the Fountain of Love by Waldo Storey at Cliveden, circa 1897, and the scandalous Eros fountain in Piccadilly by Alfred Gilbert, 1893, alongside Cheltenham’s very own Neptune fountain designed by the borough surveyor, Joseph Hall, installed at the same time. With the great social changes of the 0th century, the foun­ tain played in tune with the tastes and style of the time. The gardens of Jekyll often included an Italianate water feature, and the lead fountains by the Bromsgrove Guild and others pro­ vided both for public parks and private gardens. The fountain continues to be the main element in any garden scheme, adding life, movement and the sound of water playing.