June’s Item of the Month is a rare Ashford black marble neoclassical campana urn, Derbyshire, England, circa 1840, attributed to Selim Bright.
Ashford marble is actually not a marble, but a dark limestone, quarried near Ashford-in-the-Water in Derbyshire. The first recorded customer was Bess of Hardwick in 1580, but by the 18th century the market for decorative pieces in Ashford marble was thriving and continued to do so until well into the 19th century. Ashford marble can be turned on a lathe and so objects like our urn were particularly popular, inspired by Grand Tour artefacts; but there was also a fashion for inlaid Ashford marble items, imitating Italian pietra dure. Derby Museum, Buxton Museum and Chatsworth House all hold particularly fine examples of Ashford marble.