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Pic: Duke's/BNPS

Pictured: An important Empire giltwood and gilt metal chandelier, c 1820.

The lavish contents of one of Britain's most beautiful stately homes have sold for almost £2million after capturing high society's imagination.

Over 1,600 items were auctioned off from Wormington Grange, a neoclassical mansion in the Cotswolds, during the hotly contested three-day sale.

The sale included what the auctioneers described as the 'most important' collection of country house furniture to emerge on the market for decades.