Grecian Sphinx, 1780-1900 (moulded black basalt)

Wedgwood's sphinxes were modelled during the autumn of 1769 (see Wedgwood MS E.25 18289), and both the Egyptian and Grecian types were listed in the 1773 Wedgwood & Bentley Catalogue, the latter in two sizes, of which this is the larger size. They are also mentioned in the 1779 Wedgwood & Bentley Catalogue. Black basalt, moulded. The sphinx crouches on a rectangular pedestal, with its forepaws extended at the front, and its tail curled over its hind quarters. It wears a semi-circular headdress, a bodice, and a saddle blanket, which falls down onto the base. Underneath there is a large circular hole surrounded by four small holes, with a medium-sized hole to the right. The Grecian sphinxes are related to a design of 1763 by Robert Adam for Osterley Park. With the exception of their headdresses, they are also similar to four lead sphinxes, designed by Adam for Syon House, but eventually placed at the ends of the garden bridge at Compton Verney, Warwickshire. There is also a pair at Angelsey Abbey, Cambridgeshire. Hard-paste porcelain sphinxes of exactly the same design as the Wedgwood examples, were made at Bristol, c. 1779, and may have been modelled from plasters supplied by David Crashley of Long Acre, whose premises were very close to Wedgwood's Great Newport Street showroom. A small plaster sphinx, of this type is at Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland, but its provenance and date of arrival in the house are not known. The probably origin of these various sphinxes were eight with different accoutrements on the terrace of the Pavillon Royal at Marly, now lost. They were designed by Nicolas Coustou (1658-1733) and executed in lead by Hardy and Lespingola shortly after 1701. Designs for sphinxes of this type, attributed to Coustou are in the Drawings Cabinet, Stockholm. Small sphinxes in lead, and bronze as chenets (fire dogs) are also known.