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An extremely rare cast iron boot scraper design. It features a mythical dolphin fish with its tail wrapped around a fluted column, mounted within the centre of a scallop shell with vitruvian scrolled detail. Beautifully cast, that has stood the test of time and use for over 150 years.
 
In lovely original condition with remnants of old red paintwork.
 
It is highly likely that this boot scraper design was inspired by the famous lamp post bases designed by George John Vulliamy for the new electric lights that were erected along London's Thames Embankment in the 1860s. These too incorporated writhing dolphin figures, which in turn had drawn inspiration from the statues of fish with entwined tails at the Fontana del Nettuno in the Piazza de Popolo in Rome, which had been constructed in 1822.