Lot 295: A neo-classical ceiling design

Circle of James 'Athenian' Stuart (British 1713-1788)
A neo-classical ceiling design
pen and grey ink and grey wash
11 x 8¾ in. (27.9 x 22.2 cm.)
In a verre eglomisé mount

The alternate Roman stucco-ceiling patterns, probably prepared for engraving, are for a sideboard-apsed parlour/dining-room. It features an Apollo sunflowered patera in an octagon compartment that is mosaiced with palm-flowered and shell-scalloped lunettes and wreathed by beribboned laurels bearing bacchic lion-headed pelta-shields. The latter, celebrating the Virgilian concept of Agriculture's triumph with the laying aside of arms, have alternate schemes for Apollo griffin heads or Venus wave-scrolls.