One of a set of four 19th century limestone urns on pedestals estimated to fetch £20,000-40,000 in Summers Place Auctions’ sale.
The vast 9ft (2.74m) high urns have resided on a private Sussex estate for the last 100 years.
Kent designed eight original Portland stone urns for the gardens of Burlington’s west London home. They were placed in an avenue running from the back of the house towards the exedra, in imitation of the Appian way in Rome, which was lined with funerary urns and monuments.
Such was the popularity of their design that Kent later used them in another of his gardens at Rousham House in Oxfordshire.
