{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O79028"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O79028/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH0221/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH0221/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AH0221","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU2209","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KV7754","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O79028/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O79028","accessionNumber":"W.42-1936","objectType":"Chimneypiece","titles":[{"title":"Adelphi chimneypiece","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>The chimney-piece has always been the most important feature of a room. The more imposing and costly the chimney-piece, the grander that room. However, unlike the more extravagant Palladian and Rococo examples from the 1720s onwards, those of the Neo-classical period  were smaller and more restrained. Here the abundance of Neo-classical ornament indicates that the chimney-piece was destined for a fairly important room. <br><br><b>People </b><br>The chimney-piece comes from a house in the Adelphi (No. 5) that belonged to David Garrick. The Adelphi  (Greek for 'brothers') was a speculative development on the banks of the Thames, off the Strand, by Robert Adam and his younger brother James. However, the exorbitant cost of building the foundations, as well as the high tides and pollution of the river, brought the venture at one stage close to bankruptcy.<br><br>Garrick was the greatest actor of the day. He was a friend of Robert and James Adam, whom he addressed as 'My dear adelphi'. <br><br><b>Subjects Depicted</b><br>The lintel of the chimney-piece is decorated with griffins, back-to-back, holding festoons in their beaks. Other motifs include small circular ornaments known as paterae, also rosettes, husks, sacrificial altars and panoplies (trophies of ancient weapons).","physicalDescription":"Chimneypiece of carved and painted pinewood, the outer jambs carved with pendants of bellflowers within ovals formed by intertwining pendants of husks, the frieze with a variety of neo-classical motifs, centreing on an urn supported by two birds. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Adam, Robert","id":"A8077"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pinewood","id":"x34984"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved and painted pine, with marble","categories":[{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"}],"styles":[{"text":"Neo-classicism","id":"x38958"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AH0221","2017JU2209","2018KV7754"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"118E (VA)","id":"THES49228"},"free":"","case":"WE","shelf":"","box":"3"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Chimneypiece","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1771","earliest":"1766-01-01","latest":"1775-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Presented by Art Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"162.56","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"203.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"80","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimated","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"80 kg - estimate by Peter Riley\nDimensions checked: Registered Description; 01/01/1998 by KN","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Made in London for the library of 5 Royal Terrace, London, the residence of David Garrick (1717-1779) from 1772 until his death. Designed by Robert Adam (born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, 1728, died in London, 1792)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Chimneypiece of carved and painted pinewood, the outer jambs carved with pendants of bellflowers within ovals formed by intertwining pendants of husks, the frieze with a variety of neo-classical motifs, centreing on an urn supported by two birds. ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tomlin, Maurice, <u>Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture</u> (London: HMSO for Victoria and Albert Museum, 1972). cat. no. N/2, pp. 102-103."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nRobert Adam's style was spread by the activities of the building firm that he ran with his brother James. This chimney-piece comes from a house in the Adelphi (named after the Greek for 'brothers'), a group of streets on the banks of the river Thames.  The  Adam brothers were involved in urban speculation across London, but the Adelphi  was the firm's most famous and fashionable development.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["W.42-1936"],"accessionNumberNum":"42","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1936,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LM5153","2019LP4068","2019LT8431"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-27","availableToBook":false}}