This is a model for two female demi-figures for the final for the 'Dog grate' irons on the 'Rape of Proserpine' fire-back designed by Stevens for Messrs Henry E. Hoole & Co Ltd.

Two female demi-figures, each supporting in her outer arm a heavy swag of foliage which crosses her body, and with the inner the central structure.
Above it rises a baluster surmounted by a gadrooned bowl out of which rise two intertwined dolphins.

Armstrong recorded that 'In his designs for fire-grates Stevens so happily combined bronzes, brass and steel that he gave those articles a place among the finest of modern decorative works...The whole of the work which he did for his Sheffield employers displays to perfection that union of grave with power, of beauty of line with depth and coherence of expression which should be the highest aim of the designer' [Armstrong 1881, p. 12].

A sculptor, designer and painter, Alfred Stevens rejected contemporary distinctions between fine art and design. From 1850 to 1857 he was chief designer to Hoole & Co., Sheffield, where he produced award-winning designs for metalwork, majolica, terracotta ornaments and chimney-pieces. Perhaps his two greatest works were the decorations for the dining-room at Dorchester House, London (about 1856), for which he made countless drawings inspired by the Italian High Renaissance style, in particular the work of Michelangelo; and the monument to the Duke of Wellington for St Paul's Cathedral, London, which was completed after his death. The two allegorical groups from this monument made a lasting impact on the New Sculpture movement.