Visited this excellent NT property yesterday - mainly to see the terracotta bust of Emperor Probus by Giovanni Maiano. According to the room guide the bust was bought by John Chute following the 1759 demolition of Whitehall's Holbein Gate, and brought to his home at the Vyne, where it was installed in his Orangery / Stone Gallery. The connection was that Probus (276-282) was the emperor who introduced the grape vine (cf. Vyne) to England.
However, the guide mentioned that this traditional provenance has been queried recently by the Trust's curators. To find out more I should contact the NT.
Measuring the bust, we found it to be about 4 sheets of A4 square, i.e. approx. 4 feet x 4 feet.
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