This outstanding and high quality pair of Italian 19th century Neo-Classical style Grand Tour period columns feature embossed gilded ormolu and orb finials atop. They are raised by square brass bases with a stepped design and fine ormolu bands. Central black marble columns support over the elegantly tapered shapes including thee types of marble, ormolu plinths and capitals. "The expression ‘Grand Tour’ itself comes from 17th century travel writer and Roman Catholic priest Richard Lassels, who used it in his guidebook The Voyage of Italy, published in 1670. "The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank, typically accompanied by a tutor or family member, when they had come of age -about 21 years old."