Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: Andrea Arrigoni (Big Man Small World)
Date: 2022
Dimensions: 48 x 25 x 25 mm. / 1 ¾ x 1 x 1 inches (height x width x depth)
Inventory number: 2022.200
Intended Room: Drawing Room
Category: Sculpture

Provenance: Purchased from the artist’s Etsy shop in June 2022

Intricate and delicate, this sculpture is just the right size to sit on a console table. Andrea described it in his listing as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, but I can’t help feeling that the Quartermaines would use the French term (more Victorian). This delicate young woman slumps on an elaborate throne, grown over with briars and brambles. Its base is pierced with a pattern of arabesques and the back of the throne terminates in a grand fan of stonework. The princess looks as if she’s dozing in a sumptuous grotto.

I like the idea of this beauty sitting in the Drawing Room, among blue-and-white porcelain, where she can be enjoyed after dinner parties by guests who are, perhaps, starting to feel just a tiny bit sleepy themselves…