Pair of Neoclassical Buff Terracotta Brackets or Corbels by Blashfield
£2,950
A magnificent pair of buff terracotta wall brackets or corbels produced in the neoclassical taste by John Marriott Blashfield. Each formed of volute scrolls centred by flower heads and fronted with masks of Bacchus and issuing acanthus leaf scrolls from the base. Each signed J M Blashfield.
John Marriott Blashfield, the celebrated terra cotta manufacturer, published ‘An Account of the History and Manufacture of Ancient and Modern Terra Cotta’, London l855. He added to it his Catalogue of Five Hundred Articles, an illustrated booklet that warranted the ability of his work to ‘stand both heat and frost’. In l858, he moved from London to Wharf Road, Stamford, Lincolnshire, where he adopted the stamp featured on this statue until l872. Blashfield took pride in the handfinishing of his moulds, some of which had been acquired in the late l840s from Mrs Coade’s Manufactory.
The enduring appeal of classicism was perhaps encouraged by the influence of the Elgin marbles and a new generation of artists, such as Leighton, promoting a vigorous classical revival in the second half of the 19th century, giving new impetus to the fashion for the Antique.
