£1,764
Auction: Five Centuries
the first a figure of Demeter holding a cornucopia, the other possibly Diktynna with a fisherman's net, impressed marks E. MARCH SÖHNE/ CHARLOTTENBURG/ BEI BERLIN
Note: E. March Söhne of Charlottenburg was the leading German maker of classical garden statuary in the 19th century. After the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace was moved and rebuilt in Sydenham, South London. The original structure was reconfigured and enlarged with side courts added. By repute, these two figures, along with others, were purchased to decorate the Greek Court where they remained until the disastrous fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace in 1936. The statuary that survived the fire was moved into the surrounding park where they were left to gradually disappear into the encroaching undergrowth. In 1957 the park was cleared for the construction of the Crystal Palace athletics centre and the surviving statuary was either sold off or disposed of.