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Lot 247A

Circle of Heinrich Schweickhardt (German, fl. late 18th century): A George III sand picture of a floral still life with two finches

Amended
Britain - Defining the Interior
4 November 2015, 12:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £3,250 inc. premium

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Circle of Heinrich Schweickhardt (German, fl. late 18th century): A George III sand picture of a floral still life with two finches

The birds seated on slender boughs above a nest with three eggs beside peaches, grapes and plums and before a cylindrical woven handled basket containing an arrangement of garden flowers including roses, lilac and auricula, the bottom left hand corner bearing signature Schweickhardt, the rear with remnants of an indistinct pen and ink paper label, mounted within a gilt gesso glazed rectangular frame, 52cm high, 41cm wide, (20in high, 16cm wide), the frame, 67cm high, 59cm wide (26in high, 23in wide) approximately

Footnotes

Although the Bavarian artist Benjamin Zobel (1762-c.1800) is best known for originating and popularising sand art or 'marmotinto' as it was also known in England in the late 18th century, it was his colleague Heinrich Schweickhardt who most probably first introduced the technique to the royal household.

Like Zobel, Schweickhart was apparently employed as a 'table decker' at Windsor Castle producing table centrepieces incorporating sand and crushed marble which at that time were the height of court fashion. When Schweickhart retired it was Zobel who took his place and in 1783 he created a particularly elaborate centrepiece running the length of the dinner table for King George III which subsequently collapsed soon after the dinner was over. Regretting the loss of his work, Zobel contrived experiments with various adhesives to bind the sand together and preserve it and in doing so found a glue that could be spread on board so that a permanent two dimensional design could be created. Zobels friendship with the artist George Morland (1763-1804) who was a prominent member of the 'Isle of Wight School' presumably not only influenced the style of Zobel's new two dimensional pictures but also resulted in the use of the islands famous coloured sands which together with patronage from the Duke of York and his previous court connections made Zobel a fashionable and successful artist in this specialist field.

Although there are no definitive records of Schweichkharts life or his output, it is possible that he two took to producing two dimension works in sand in the manner of his successor Benjamin Zobel when they became fashionable, this lot possibly being one of them.

Saleroom notices

Please note that the description for lot 247A does not appear in the printed catalogue but should read as follows: Circle of Heinrich Schweickhardt (German, fl. late 18th century): A George III sand picture of a floral still life with two finches Estimate £1500-2000

Additional information

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