[111102] Kedleston Hall : The Wardrobe - Fireplace

Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, 1758-65.

The National Trust.

By Matthew Brettingham (1699-1769), James Paine (1717-1789) & Robert Adam (1728-1792).

Interiors complete by the 1780s.

For Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale (1726-1804).

Grade l listed.

 

The Wardrobe - Fireplace.

By Robert Adam, c1768.

Marble with Sienese marble, steel.

 

A chimneypiece carved of white marble, with inverse breakfront moulded shelf, above frieze inlaid with vertical bands of Siena marble, two oval paterae and relief urns on the endblocks. The marble relief panel at centre depicts a bacchante in a chariot led by two putti riding lions. The bacchante holds a thyrsus and her robes billow in the wind. The jambs are rendered as ionic pilasters inlaid with vertical bands of Siena marble, on block feet. Fitted with a steel register grate, with bowed-railed basket grate surmounted with urn finials and pierced fret. The register grate engraved with foliate scrolls and ribbons, with pierced steel fender. The Wardrobe and other 'Principal Apartment' rooms were completed in 1768 to designs by Robert Adam.

 

Kedleston Hall is an extravagant temple to the arts. Commissioned in the 1750s by Nathaniel Curzon whose ancestors had resided at Kedleston since the 12th century. The house is framed by historic parkland and boasts opulent interiors intended to impress.

 

Designed for lavish entertaining, Kedleston Hall displays an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture and original furnishings, reflecting both the tastes of its creators and their fascination with the classical world of the Roman Empire.

 

Inherited by George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India between 1899 and 1905, the hall also houses the many objects he amassed during his travels in South Asia and the Middle East, and in his role leading British rule in India.

 

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