Here is a sneak peak at one of the highlights from our upcoming exhibition, Inspired by Antiquity. It is a pair of early 19th century wall appliques in the form of Phrygian helmets, closely related to a design by Thomas Hope, currently in the Philip Hewat-Jaboor collection of Regency furniture and objects by Hope.
The pattern for these trophied helmets appears amongst Thomas Hope’s outline drawings made in 1809 and now preserved in the Gennadius Library, Athens. They were included in his Costume of the Ancients, 1812 (figure 1), and a similar helmet was featured as door furniture in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807 (figure 2).