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Design for a sarcophagus-shaped bath with strigillation and garlands supported by two mermaids. On top is a shell and dolphin backpiece held by two more mermaids. Below is a plan of an oval bath with four feet.
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Reference number
Adam vol.6/90
Purpose
Design for a sarcophagus-shaped bath with strigillation and garlands supported by two mermaids. On top is a shell and dolphin backpiece held by two more mermaids. Below is a plan of an oval bath with four feet.
Aspect
Elevation, plans
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink in a contemporary hand A Bath for a Room in the Stile of the Antique / Decem'r 1744. R.A
Signed and dated
- Despite inscribed date of 1744, 1774 is more likely
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pencil290 x 202
Hand
Robert Adam
Watermark
coat of arms with lion [English mid-eighteenth century]
Notes
In the opinion of A. A. Tait, this drawing relates in time and place or subject to those contained in Adam volume 56. If the inscribed date could be accepted, the drawing would be made by Robert Adam aged 16 and, with the landscape view in Adam vol.56/14 dated September 1744, one of the earliest drawings in the Adam collection. However, the pen draughtsmanship is too advanced for such a date, as is the neo-classical style of the composition. It is much closer to the other drawings in the volume of the 1774/5 period. It seems highly likely that in inking over the pencil inscription, 1774 was misread as 1744. Such a drawing process can be seen in Adam vol.6/97, a similar drawing with the same watermark and dated 1774.
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk