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Keystone-shaped plaque with the head of ?Ossian in relief, perhaps after a model by John Bacon, c.1779
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SM M1130. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
Keystone-shaped plaque with the head of ?Ossian in relief, perhaps after a model by John Bacon, c.1779
c.1775
Coade Stone
Height: 68.5cm
Height: 23in
Depth: 2in
Width: 11.5in, at the bottom
Height: 23in
Depth: 2in
Width: 11.5in, at the bottom
Museum number: M1130
On display: Colonnade - north wall
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
Wedge-shaped panel with the head of a River God or perhaps of Ossian(?), in relief. The nose badly damaged.
Although not stamped, this is a specimen from the Coade and Seely artificial stone factory at Lambeth.
The sculptor John Bacon (1740-1799) was employed by Mrs Coade and may well have been responsible for this work.
Soane's own set of 63 etchings of Coade productions includes several key-stone heads of this type (p.64, nos. 438, 439 and 446). Alison Kelly, leading authority on Coade Stone and author of the first book on the subject, identified this head (which she called a “dishevelled River God keystone") as no. 438 in the 1784 Coade Catalogue, described as a 'River God's head' on the accompanying price list with the measurements given as 1’ 7” wide by 2’ 6” high and the price as £1.11.6.
Murdo Macdonald, Emeritus Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee, suggested (2020) a new identification of the subject as the blind Ossian, legendary bard and supposed author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736-1796) from 1760 (there is a copy of Poems of Ossian, 1773, in Soane's Library). Macpherson claimed the poems were translated from ancient Gaelic originals but in fact they were probably largely written by him.
Mike Adams (2025; unpublished correspondence) suggests from his further research that the closed eyes are not necessarily blind ones, citing the similar keystone over the door at Watermen’s Hall at 18 St. Mary at Hill in the City of London (opened in April 1780) as additional evidence that this is a River God (as the Watermen would have no reason to acquire a head of Ossian for their facade) and suggesting that the eyes are closed to keep the water out. He further notes that the Coade Catalogue not only identifies it as a River God's head but makes no mention of Ossian as a subject.
We are grateful to Professor Murdo Macdonald, Emeritus Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee and to Mike Adams, for allowing us to use their research in preparing this note.
Although not stamped, this is a specimen from the Coade and Seely artificial stone factory at Lambeth.
The sculptor John Bacon (1740-1799) was employed by Mrs Coade and may well have been responsible for this work.
Soane's own set of 63 etchings of Coade productions includes several key-stone heads of this type (p.64, nos. 438, 439 and 446). Alison Kelly, leading authority on Coade Stone and author of the first book on the subject, identified this head (which she called a “dishevelled River God keystone") as no. 438 in the 1784 Coade Catalogue, described as a 'River God's head' on the accompanying price list with the measurements given as 1’ 7” wide by 2’ 6” high and the price as £1.11.6.
Murdo Macdonald, Emeritus Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee, suggested (2020) a new identification of the subject as the blind Ossian, legendary bard and supposed author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736-1796) from 1760 (there is a copy of Poems of Ossian, 1773, in Soane's Library). Macpherson claimed the poems were translated from ancient Gaelic originals but in fact they were probably largely written by him.
Mike Adams (2025; unpublished correspondence) suggests from his further research that the closed eyes are not necessarily blind ones, citing the similar keystone over the door at Watermen’s Hall at 18 St. Mary at Hill in the City of London (opened in April 1780) as additional evidence that this is a River God (as the Watermen would have no reason to acquire a head of Ossian for their facade) and suggesting that the eyes are closed to keep the water out. He further notes that the Coade Catalogue not only identifies it as a River God's head but makes no mention of Ossian as a subject.
We are grateful to Professor Murdo Macdonald, Emeritus Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee and to Mike Adams, for allowing us to use their research in preparing this note.
Literature
Soane research files: unpublished correspondence from Alison Kelly (Letter to Peter Thornton dated 10 July 1989).
Peter Thornton and Helen Dorey, A Miscellany of objects from Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 1992, p. 121.
Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade's stone, 1990
Soane Research files: unpublished research summary from Mike Adams, 2025.
Peter Thornton and Helen Dorey, A Miscellany of objects from Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 1992, p. 121.
Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade's stone, 1990
Soane Research files: unpublished research summary from Mike Adams, 2025.
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