This ‘antique’ altar is based upon the tripod stand discovered in the Temple of Isis at Pompeii and now in the Museo Archeologico, Naples. This celebrated stand, widely copied during the 19th Century, served as the model for the baptismal fonts by Luigi and Francesco Monfradini, one a present to the Empress Marie-Louise by the city of Milan in 1811, the other for the king of Rome in 1813, (see The Age of NeoClassicism, Exhibition Catalog, London, 1972, pl. XII, no. 1828).

The patination of this stand is characteristic of the ‘antique’ productions at the foundry established by the sculptor J. Chiurazzi in Naples circa 1870. Specialising in manufacturing replicas of antiquities in the Museo Borbonico in Naples, this ‘Trepied Isiaque’ featured in the catalogue of ‘J. Chiurazzi & Fils’, Naples circa 1900, no. 150.

• A related stand stamped B. Boschetti, Roma, is illustrated in A.G. Palacios’ Il Mobile nei Secoli, Italian, vol. III 1969, pl. 99. Further examples were sold in these Rooms, 9 June 1988, lot 128 and from the collection of the late John Trafford Esq, Hill Court, Herefordshire, Christie’s House Sale 13-14 December 1982, lot 20.
• A related stand appears in Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s 1873 painting In the Temple (see V. Swanson, Catalogue Raisonné, London 1979, no. 132

The level of detail is extremely fine and given its wonderful patina, it appears as a museum original.   J. Chiurazzi is well known for making the finest of this type, and we have seen several in the past. 

Height: 35 in.  Diameter: 22 in.