'IH EI late-gothic high altar in the Benedictine abbey church in Liesborn near Lippstadt was dismantled in 1704 to make way for a baroque replacement. In the course of deconsecration parts of the altar-piece were sold off, panels and fragments from it eventually finding their way to the Westfälisches Landesmuseum in Münster and the National Gallery in London. From the 1950s onwards there was much scholarly discussion about the altar-piece's original appearance, but this came to a temporary halt when Paul Pieper proposed a reconstruction of the original state of the London fragments in the catalogue of an exhibition held in Munstcr in 1966. Despite some objections raised by Alfred Stange in 1967, this reconstruction, based on discoveries made during the restoration work for the show, has been generally accepted. The time is now ripe for a reconsideration of the problem.

APART from that for the Wolfe monument in 1760 (dis- cussed in Part I of this article), the only public competition Agostino Carlini is known to have entered was for the memorial to Alderman Beckford. The Court of Common Council of the City of London set up a Committee for erecting a statue to William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London from 1705 to 1770, soon after his death, in July 1770. The Committee wished to have Beckford portrayed delivering his defiant speech, which had apparently outraged the King in May of that year, and an excerpt from it was to be inscribed on the monument. At their first meeting, the Committee decided that advertisements should be placed in the press inviting artists to submit designs anonymously. There is, however, considerable evidence that the eventual winner - John Francis Moore, a Hanoverian who had arrived in England around 1760 and had made a statue of Beckford in c. 1767 - succeeded through influence rather than merit, and a hastily written note added to the minutes of the first meeting records that 'Mr John Moore appeared before this Committee & laid before them a drawing with the Offer of his Service.' By September seventeen artists had submitted drawings, of which two, by Moore and Carlini, were chosen. Both sculptors were invited to produce models; but, evidently feeling that a greater choice was desirable, the Committee decided on 13th September to invite any other artists who wished to do so - even, it would appear, those whose designs had been rejected at the initial judging stage - to submit models at their own expense.

IN November 1993 the National Art Collections Fund will be ninety years old. It began as a response to the steady drain of great art from Britain's private collections at the turn of the century. Works still escape from time to time, but the Fund remains the agency to which those who care about the artistic heritage of Britain turn first.

A SMALL yellow-stain glass roundel in the Burrell Collection, (inv.no.45/494), depicts a number of figures variously employed in a rural landscape (Fig.55). It has been identified as South Netherlandish of the early sixteenth century, and as representing the month of November - one of a presumed series of roundels depicting the months of the year, which are a common enough theme in glass decoration of the period. To the left, two men slaughter hogs, while in the background another fells a tree and behind him a ploughshare tills the earth. These pursuits conform to the agricultural labours traditionally associated with the winter months - the slaughter of pigs specifically with November - activities that by the early sixteenth century had for long been part of the traditional iconography of the 'Labours of the months' found in Shepherds' Almanacks and Books of Hours.

THE glorification of a monarch through the arts has had a long history in France and, from the time of Louis XIV, various royal manufactories created every possible type of decorative object not only for use in the royal residences but also for presentation to foreign dignitaries. The coronation of Charles X in 1825 was an important opportunity for the new French king of the recently restored dynasty to strengthen diplomatic relations with other countries. Charles presented to a number of high-ranking visitors who attended the glittering ceremony at Rheims Cathedral magnificent gifts made at the Manufacture royale de porcelaine at Sevres, including two extraordinary objects given to the English representative, Hugh Percy, third Duke of Northumber- land: a vase Médicis (Fig.63) and a mantel clock known as Trois époques... (Fig.64), both now at Syon House, Middlesex. Although these pieces have long been known to scholars, they have never previously been published.

(Fig.64), both now at Syon House, Middlesex. Although these pieces have long been known to scholars, they have never previously been published.