11550 - 19th century pair of carved alabaster urns

19th century pair of carved alabaster urns on supporting columns. The urns feature elegant handles carved as winged hippocampi - fabulous half horse/half fish mythological creatures. Exquisitely carved bas-reliefs of the Doves of Pliny (also known as the Capitoline Doves) ornament the midsections of both urns. Further ornamentation is provided by splendid carved ribbons and botanical motifs that carry through to the central bands of each supporting pillar. The ornate decoration and scale of these urns is quite exceptional: A less elaborately carved pair of alabaster urns, similar in size, was commissioned by the Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (a member of the Hapsburg dynasty) to decorate the imperial palace, Castillo de Chapultepec.

Alabaster has long been prized as a noble material by collectors of antiquities and statuary. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries large alabaster urns and vases were sought after not only by European royalty but by the owners of great houses in Britain and Ireland who either collected or commissioned pieces from Italian artisans while making the Grand Tour.

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