Derby Fine Arts & Antique Sale

A DERBYSHIRE FAUCET

This piece of leadwork is pure Derbyshire. It is an architectural faucet. Cast in sand it has been carefully thought out. Two architectural columns support a semicircular pediment. Below this two swimming dolphins then the initials ‘J.C’ and the date 1774. Could it be from a pump or a bath or even a garden feature? It was found in Derby and has not travelled since the time it was made.

Speculation and only speculation connects it with John Chatterton, the eighteenth century leadsmith, associate of Whitehurst, Pickford and Joseph Wright of Derby. His house was off Irongate in Amen Alley though whether he worked there is not known. Although he is described as ‘plumber’, (a man who worked) in lead, he was an ingenious craftsman and prosperous too. He became a landowner and established a Derby family which flourished well into the nineteenth century. His biggest project was the leadwork at Chatsworth House, not of course the ornament, but the practical everyday plumbing for the house and gardens. Here he collaborated with Whitehurst.

RICHARD WINTERTON FINE ART AUCTIONEERS
DERBY 01332 296369