The Late Period Coade Artificial Stone Westmacott Nymph - 1831.

 

Also known as A Nymph Unclasping Her Zone.

Coade Artificial Stone

After Sir Richard Westmacott (1775 - 1856)

137cm high.

Sold by Chiswick Auctions.

Lot 25. 22 November 2023.

https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-25---a-coade-stone-figure-westmacotts-nymph/?lot=233099&sd=1

With Vagabond Antiques, Petworth.

Stripped of paint.

https://www.vagabondantiques.co.uk/artworks/313-coade-figure-of-westmacott-s-nymph/

After the sculpture by Sir Richard Westmacott R. A, modelled by Coade, the female figure turned to her left, unclasping her zone, her peplos draping around her legs, raised on a circular base, signed COADE LAMBETH to base, with further impressed marks of ACT DIRECTS 1831 to the rear of the base.

 

 

This statue is modelled after the original marble work by the sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott, R.A executed circa 1820. 

After being exhibited at the 1824 Royal Exhibition the original marble statue was then purchased for the collection of Castle Howard. 

The original version was destroyed by fire in November 1940. 

A plaster version, often cited as the original plaster model by Westmacott, was purchased by Sir John Soane for his home at 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, (see images and notes below) museum number HR3. The statue in the Soane collection is named: 'A Nymph Unclasping her Zone' the name 'Westmancott's Nymph' has been associated with this statue from around circa 1820.

 

Provenance: Seago Collection, Lot 242, Christie's. June 9th 1999.The Secret Courtyard Collection. The Seago Collection. 

The Chiswick Auctions Photographs.

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The Vagabond Photographs.

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The UK Architectural Antiques Nymph.

A Pair of late Coade Artificial Stone Statues.

Previously with UK Architectural Antiques.

https://www.ukaa.com/guides/coade-stone-118

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The Jardinique Westmacott Nymph.

Indented Coade's Lambeth 1840.

Dimensions 53" (135cm) High. 17" (43cms) Diameter base

http://www.jardinique.co.uk/garden_antiques/Stock%20Pages/figure_coadestone_nymph.htm

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The Soane Museum Westmacott Nymph in Plaster.

Height: 180cm. Width: 60cm. Depth: 60cm.

Museum number: HR3

 

On display in the Soane Museum Picture Room Recess.

 This plaster figure was placed in the Picture Room Recess on the completion of the Picture Room in 1824 - where it forms the centrepiece of the theatrical mise en scène created by the opening of the south planes of the Picture Room. It was probably the preparatory model for the marble version (Exhib. RA 1824, No. 1009: A Nymph, A Statue in marble. R. Westmacott R.A.) which was at Castle Howard in Yorkshire until its destruction in a fire in November 1940.

 The Coade factory in Lambeth produced examples of what they called "Westmacott's Nymph" from 1831, in Coade Stone, possibly to a slightly reduced scale. An example was sold by Christie's in 1999 and again through Chiswick Auctions on 22nd Nov 2023 (Lot 25 in their Fine Sculpture and Statuary, Selected Interiors and Works of Art sale).

 

Literature - Sir Richard Westmacott, Sculptor, M. Busco, pub. CUP, 1994.