A PAIR OF GILTWOOD LIONS, ENGLISH, LATE 17TH CENTURY modelled as an opposing pair of Bavarian type lions, each seated, with wide grin to the face facing to the side and front paw resting on a cartouche, on shaped wood plinths 33cm high Lion figures and crowns from the Speaker's Pew at St Margaret's Westminster: this pair of lion figures (together with the preceding and following lots) is recorded as coming to St. Margaret's Ifield, West Sussex, in the third quarter of the 18th century, donated by Nicholas Spencer (died 1783). Spencer was a vestry-man at St. Margaret's Westminster and patron of St. Margaret's Ifield. He purchased the lions and crowns from St. Margaret's Westminster, together with other fittings and pews, when the interiors of the Westminster church were being remodelled. The crowns can be discerned in the print dated 1760 of the Speaker Arthur Onslow 'in his seat at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster' by the engraver Anthony Walker (1726-1765), the lions possibly featuring in the arch above his head. For further information, see T.P. Hudson (editor), A History of the County of Sussex, Victoria County History, 1987, p.19.