G E O R G E I I I L I B R A R Y TA M B O U R S B E S T C O L U M N I S T S S U B S C R I B E R O F F E R S
ANTIQUE
COLLECTING JEWELLERY MASTERCLASS
CARTIER’S TUTTI FRUTTI Discover the inspiration behind the French house’s signature design
APRIL 2021
Plus:
ONE TO WATCH PATEK PHILIPPE’S REF.2499
LENNOX CATO’S ‘BASIC, BETTER, BEST’
ANTIQUE COLLECTING
CARVING A CAREER 300 YEARS OF GRINLING GIBBONS
VOL 55 N0.10 APR 2021
Eighties Revival
Love it or hate it – the Memphis group is back in fashion
5
CHRISTINA TREVANION
PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE GRAND TOUR
OUTSIDER ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AND WHY Celebrating the UK’s lesser-known painting geniuses ALSO INSIDE The Dunrobin Castle attic sale • Auction results • Antiques quizzes
Wilkinson's 1_Wilkinson's 1 06/03/2020 11:43 Page 1
Fine Furniture, Decorative Items and Effects Sunday 25th April 2021 commencing 11am.
Viewing appointments dependent upon current Covid guidelines. Closed Sale Room, online, commission and telephone bidding only.
FIRST WORD
Welcome
Ventilation. It’s amazing how important it is to keep a door open. Not just, as we are endlessly aware, to blow away the pernicious Covid-19 virus but, as we learn in this month’s magazine, it can have a dramatic effect on the amateur artist. Two of whom were “discovered” because they happened to be setting about their craft with the front door wide ajar. It seems the genius of the Dutch-born woodcarver Grinling Gibbons was only brought to a wider audience after the 17th-century diarist John Evelyn strolled past his Deptford home (while GG was toiling away at a panel). Some two centuries later, the talented naïve artist Alfred Wallis was brought to public acclaim only after the artists Christopher Wood and Ben Nicholson burst into his sitting room after spying his work from the street (imagine that when you’ve just settled down to Homes Under the Hammer). Both are described in this month’s magazine: the first article celebrating 300 years since Gibbons’ death and the second marking an exhibition of Wallis’ work at Kettle’s Yard. Elsewhere in the magazine, in the month that sees the reopening of antique shops, dealerships, auction houses and some outdoor fairs on the 12th, we celebrate all there is to love in the world of antiques and fine art. Christina Trevanion recalls the Grand Tour on page 11, while an astounding auction – one of the oddest you’ll see all year – is highlighted on page 22 and, on page 34, Antiques Roadshow’s Lennox Cato revisits the show’s popular Basic, Better and Best game with three pieces of miniature furniture. Turn to pages 24-25 to exercise your little grey cells with our crossword and quiz and, if learning is your thing, on pages 44-45 we have the latest selection of exclusive subscriber book offers from our sister publisher ACC Art Books. Enjoy the issue.
Georgina
IN THIS ISSUE
REBECCA WALLIS
on Grinling Gibbons’ Petworth carvings, Page 16
MARK WILKINSON
shines a light on a remarkable sale, Page 22
ELIZA SPINDEL
on her love of the artist Alfred Wallis, Page 26
Georgina Wroe, Editor
PS A reminder that all subscribers can access our free digital archive by registering at www. exacteditions.com/print/antiquecollecting. Please use your subscriber/membership number which can be found underneath your name and address on the cover sheet that comes with your magazine. If you don’t have the number, please email sue.slee@accartbooks.com
KEEP IN TOUCH
Write to us at Antique Collecting, Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, or email magazine@accartbooks. com. Visit the website at www.antique-collecting.co.uk and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AntiqueMag
Antique Collecting subscription
DAVE PARKER
unveils an important kitchenalia collection, Page 52
The Team
We love
this Ashoka lamp, 1981, by Ettore Sottsass (19172007) for the Memphis group, which has an estimate of £1,200-£1,800 at Lyon and Turnbull’s sale on April 30
Editor: Georgina Wroe, georgina. wroe@accartbooks.com Online Editor: Richard Ginger, richard.ginger@accartbooks.com Design: Philp Design, james@philpdesign.co.uk Advertising: Georgina Wroe, georgina.wroe @accartbooks.com Subscriptions: Sue Slee 01394 389957, sue.slee@accartbooks.com
£38 for 10 issues annually, no refund is available. ISSN: 0003-584X
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 3
Contents VOL 55 NO 10 APRIL 2021
54
THIS MONTH
REGULARS 3 Editor’s Welcome: Georgina Wroe introduces the April issue 6
Antique News: All the latest from the world of antiques and fine art, including two online exhibitions and details of a pioneering pest control project in Norfolk
10 Your Letters: A look at the latest correspondence reveals memories of davenports and calls for information on a Victorian bench
58 Top of the Lots: A preview of pieces up for sale in April includes a cricket bat signed by legends of the pre-war sport and a wealth of 007 memorabilia 60 Auction Calendar: All the latest sale dates from the UK’s leading auction houses 66 Marc My Words: BBC Antiques Roadshow expert Marc Allum warns of the dangers of mixing pets and antiques
11 Lots of Love: Yearning for the great outdoors, Christina Trevanion recalls the Grand Tour of the 17th and 18th centuries and the treasures it brought 16 Funky Gibbons: On the 300th anniversary of the death of the back to the UK famous woodcarver Grinling Gibbons, his life and work is 12 Around the Houses: Ahead of celebrated in a year of events auction houses reopening, we highlight the results of some of the 26 Waves of Change: An exhibition best UK online sales on the naïve Cornish artist Alfred Wallis examines the retiring genius’s 22 Saleroom Spotlight: One of the effect on modern British art most unusual sales of the year includes a working Dalek and a 2m 36 All the Raj: Indian-inspired, ‘alicorn’ Tutti Frutti jewellery by Cartier is one of the French house’s 24 Puzzle Pages: Test your antiques signature pieces. Mark Littler knowledge with our popular reports on the style crossword and quiz
FEATURES
G E O R G E I I I L I B R A R Y TA M B O U R S B E S T C O L U M N I S T S S U B S C R I B E R O F F E R S
ANTIQUE
COLLECTING JEWELLERY MASTERCLASS
CARTIER’S TUTTI FRUTTI Discover the inspiration behind the French house’s signature design
ANTIQUE COLLECTING VOL 55 N0.10 APR 2021
58
APRIL 2021
Plus:
ONE TO WATCH PATEK PHILIPPE’S REF.2499
LENNOX CATO’S ‘BASIC, BETTER, BEST’ CARVING A CAREER 300 YEARS OF GRINLING GIBBONS
Eighties Revival
Love it or hate it – the Memphis group is back in fashion
5
CHRISTINA TREVANION
PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE GRAND TOUR
OUTSIDER ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AND WHY Celebrating the UK’s lesser-known painting geniuses ALSO INSIDE The Dunrobin Castle attic sale • Auction results • Antiques quizzes
COVER
An emerald and diamond ring by Bulgari has an estimate of £180,000£250,000 at Bonhams’ sale on April 18, image Bonhams
12
FOLLOW US @AntiqueMag
39
32 Waxing Lyrical: David Harvey looks forward to a summer of fairs at which he will present the Nicholas Parsons’ collection and a George III tambour table
39 Dialled Up: Four of the most sought-after watches of all time – the Patek Philippe ref. 2499 – go under the hammer next month. What makes them so special?
34 Without Reserve: Lennox Cato presents his own version of Basic, Better, Best with three pieces of miniature furniture
42 The Only Way Is Essex: Victorian reversed intaglio jewellery – aka “Essex crystal” – is as quirky as it is collectable, writes Liz Bailey
35 In the Loupe: the second in our regular watch and jewellery focus 44 Book Offers: Subscribers can save more than a third on the very latest titles from our sister publisher ACC Art Books
6
52 Saleroom Spotlight: Dave Parker highlights an internationally important single owner collection of kitchenalia
46 Plastic Fantastic: With maximalism all the rage vibrant furniture from the ‘80s Memphis group is back in vogue as a new exhibition reveals 54 Highland Fling: The decision to declutter the attics of Dunrobin Castle has brought all sorts of treasures to light. Mary Miers reports on an upcoming sale
TO SUBSCRIBE PLEASE CALL OUR SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE ON 01394 389957 ANTIQUE COLLECTING 5
NEWS All the latest WHAT’S GOING ON IN APRIL
ANTIQUE
news
Discover all the latest from the world of antiques and fine art this month
CHERRY PICKINGS British artist Damien Hirst (b.1965) launches his first museum exhibition in France in June called Cherry Blossoms. On at the Fondation Cartier, the series of more than a hundred large single panels, diptychs, triptychs, quadriptychs and even a hexaptych were finished last November. He said: “Cherry blossoms are about beauty and life and death. They’re extreme—there’s something almost tacky about them. They’re garish and messy and fragile.” The monumental canvases can be seen at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 261 Boulevard Raspail, Paris from June 1 to January 2, 2022. Above right Damien Hirst, Renewal Blossom, 2018, © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd., DACS 2021 Right Cherry Blossom (detail), 2019 © Damien Hirst and Science
Ltd., DACS 2021
Far right Damien Hirst, 2019, © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd., DACS 2021
Roman (a)mullet A 5cm figure of a human figurine dating to the 1st century AD has given an insight into ancient hair styles. The find, discovered at an excavation at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire, shows a thin moustache and shaped hair longer at the back. National Trust’s Shannon Hogan said: “We have extremely limited knowledge of what ordinary people of England at that time looked like, so this beautifully detailed figure might just be giving us a tantalising glimpse into their appearance, or how they imagined their gods.” The figure is holding a torc – associated with status – which may have formed the handle of a spatula – either used to mix medicines, or wax for writing tablets. For further information on Wimpole visit www. nationaltrust.org.uk/wimpole Above The figure gives an insight into hairstyles of the day
6 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Chair lift Nine early 17th-century ‘sgabello’ hall chairs from Petworth House are among National Trust treasures set to benefit from a £3m shot in the arm from a US charity. The Royal Oak Foundation was founded in 1973 to raise awareness of the trust across the pond. The gift, in honour of the trust’s 125th anniversary, will fund major work at the charity’s specialist conservation studio at Knole in Kent, set to reopen to the public when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Also on the list for specialist treatment is a suit of Japanese Samurai armour, one of a set of 27 purchased by the collector Charles Paget Wade for his home at Snowshill Manor in Gloucesterhire. Above right A conservator assesses the damage to the ‘sgabello’ chairs Right The hall chairs as they were intended to be
seen at Petworth
Far left Eileen Agar, Eileen Agar , 1927, ©Estate of Eileen Agar/ Bridgeman Images Left Eileen Agar, Mooma, 1929, courtesy of Redfern Gallery, London © Estate of Eileen Agar/Bridgeman Images Below left Photograph
of Agar called A Ceremonial Hat for Eating Bouillabaisse, 1936, private collection © Estate of Eileen Agar Bridgeman Images
Above The letter calls on President Adams to consider female empowerment
Right The wedding
gown of Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Continental Army
3
to see in
APRIL
1View from Agar
The largest exhibition of the Argentine-born artist Eileen Agar (1899-1991), set to be unveiled in London in April, has been put back to May. Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy, at the Whitechapel Gallery now from May 19 to August 29 includes 100 paintings, collages and photographs from Agar’s 70-year career, in which she synthesised cubism and surrealism. Born in Buenos Aires, to a Scottish industrialist father and an American biscuit firm heiress mother, Agar described her childhood as privileged and eccentric: “full of balloons, hoops and St. Bernard dogs.”
3
Below left The work of Mary Beale (1633-1699) also comes into focus
spangled 2Star scanner
With so many galleries closed until May 17 there are many online events worldwide allowing us to explore treasures from around the globe from our armchair. A highlight of Philadelphia-based Museum of the American Revolution’s online exhibition When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story, 1776-1807 is the letter Abigail Adams wrote to her husband President John Adams calling on him to “Remember the Ladies” when declaring the emerging republic’s independence. The original letter, which marks its 245th anniversary this year, is one of a number of items to view online along with 65 original objects including textiles, manuscripts and works of art. To see the exhibition go to www. amrevmuseum.org
Below Philip Mould’s
insights can be viewed online
Below right Talks include
an appreciation of miniatures
Right Watch a film on
Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, a Massachusetts woman who sued for freedom from enslavement
Living with Mould
In Lockdown 3, art dealer and expert Philip Mould has continued his Art in Isolation series launched in April 2020. Rather than go to his Mayfair gallery, the Fake or Fortune? star guides visitors through some landmark periods of British art, including highlighting lesser-known artists such as Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (1890-1978) one of the most successful and fashionable British portrait painters of the early 20th century. Go to www.philipmould.com to learn more.
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 7
NEWS All the latest Black beauty
Tweet goes on The Museum of London has acquired 13 Tweets from Londoners as part of its ongoing Collecting Covid project. The growing collection includes memes, videos and images that went ‘viral’ on Twitter meaning they were ‘shared’ or ‘liked’ more than 30,000 times. Museum of London’s digital curator, Foteini Aravani, said: “The surge in social activity during the pandemic was indeed an integral part of lockdown for Londoners.” For more details go to www.museumoflondon. org.uk or follow them @MuseumofLondon #CollectingCOVID. Top One of 13 Tweets
A leather jug made from the hide of Oliver Cromwell’s war horse Black Jack and uncovered on the Antiques Roadshow 20 years ago made £7,400 at the Dorset auctioneers Duke’s. The 2ft huge bombard was one of a dozen made from the hide of Cromwell’s dead horse and it would have been used to carry water or ale. Dukes’ Senan MacDonagh said: “These jugs became known as blackjacks because of the horse. But very few of them were recorded at being 30cm or higher. “This one is an incredible survivor. The connection to Oliver Cromwell makes it particularly important.” The historic vessel bares a silver pendant inscribed ‘Oliver Cromwell 1653 Lord Protector of England Scotland and Ireland’. Top The bombard became known as a ‘blackjack’ due to its connection with the horse
Ceiling sight There’s another reason to visit the Guggenheim Bilbao when restrictions are lifted, after it unveiled an installation by the Argentine/ Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899-1968). Fontano, known as the founder of Spatialism, created Neon Structure for the Ninth Milan Triennial in 1951. The work, located in the atrium, can simultaneously be considered a drawing, sculpture, light, and an expressive gesture frozen mid-air. Fontano pioneered the use of empty space as a vital part of an artwork. Right Fontano’s artwork can now be seen in the Guggenheim Bilbao
acquired by the museum
5 minutes with... Otto Billström Sworders’ new 20th-century design valuer What first attracted you to fine art?
I remember first encountering a piece of Arne Jacobsen furniture, which my parents salvaged from a renovation at Stockholm University, and seeing a pair of 17th-century flintlock pistols in my grandfather’s collection. The fascination in their history led me to move to the UK to study art history.
How do UK and Swedish interests/ markets differ?
Scandinavians are selective when it comes
8 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Viewing gallery 25 works on paper by leading artists of the modern and post-war period, described as “one of the most significant gifts of a generation” go on show at the Courtauld Gallery in London when it reopens later in the year. Amassed by the late collector Howard Karshan, they were presented by his wife, the artist Linda Karshan, and include works by Paul Cézanne, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee and Cy Twombly. The 20th-century additions join the gallery’s collection of 7,000 drawings, including masterpieces from the Renaissance onwards. Aside from Cézanne, none of the artists included in the gift has previously been represented in the collection. Top Sam Francis (1924-1994) Red, Black & Blue;
Composition, 1958, from the Karshan collection
to continental or British art and antiques. As such, prices are generally lower than you’d expect for British art or Grand Tour souvenirs, for example. But prices for mid-century design are generally lower, due to the larger quantity available. This, however, leads to a greater demand for quality pieces so, for the keen collector, it is worth exploring the Swedish market for hidden gems.
The thing you would most like to find?
A previously undiscovered bronze by the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles (1875-1955). His combination of classical ideals and modernist aesthetics is remarkable and unmatched.
Your favourite Swedish designer (who we’ve heard of) The Swedish ceramics and textile designer Stig Lindberg (1916-1982). His playfulness in both colour and shape seldom fail to put a smile on my face.
Right Textile by Stig
Lindberg
Your favourite Swedish designer (who we haven’t heard of)
Otto Schulz (18821970), he was born in Germany but lived in Gothenburg where he spearheaded the Swedish modern movement through his brand Boet. He is predominantly renowned for comfortable and timeless lounge chairs, but he also produced complete interiors.
Sworders’ next 20thcentury art sale is on April 20 Right A modern
lounge chair by Schulz for Boet
Couples therapy
Above House steward Ellie Jones cleans the carpet in the State Bedroom at Blicking
MOTHS BALLED A ground-breaking natural pest control trial has been launched to combat clothes moths at a Norfolk estate. Despite vigilant housekeeping, common or ‘webbing’ clothes moths (Tineola bisselliella) have proved hard to control at Blickling Hall. Lockdown saw undisturbed and dark rooms provide an ideal environment for pests. In a pioneering regime a microscopic ‘parasitoid’ wasp will seek out moth eggs and lay its own eggs inside, so that a new beneficial wasp hatches, rather than a moth. Bllckling’s most treasured ‘material’ items include the ‘Peter the Great’ tapestry, given to Blickling’s owner by Catherine the Great in the 1760s and a State Bed with an ambassadorial canopy and headcloth.
A Tanzanian fetish couple, intended to promote marital harmony, is one of the highlights on offer at this month’s online Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam. The proud pair, from the Wagogo culture, is on sale from the London dealer Bryan Reeves’ Tribal Gathering London, priced £2,800. Usually held at De Duif in Amsterdam, the pandemic caused it to be held online last autumn, with 9,000 virtual visitors This year’s event from April 29 to May 3 includes 30 tribal art dealers from nine countries. For more details go to www.tribalartfair. nl/onlinefair. Right The couple is on offer from Bryan
Reeves’ Tribal Gathering London
WILD TIMES A landmark exhibition of works by the French artist Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) – the first ever to focus on his pictures of
Below Adult clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella)
© Historyonics
dancers and revellers – is set to open at the National Gallery in autumn. As the perfect antidote to the recent lockdown, Poussin and the Dance will include raucous scenes of whirling, cavorting figures who are either half-naked or too drunk to hold themselves up. For centuries Poussin’s work has been somewhat overlooked by the public who often find his paintings cold, difficult or overly erudite – despite their convivial nature. The exhibition will include 20 paintings and drawings from public and private collections around the world. Left Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term, 1632-1633, © The National Gallery
THE TOP FIVE INSECT PESTS IN 2020 1 Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina; books, paper and cotton): dropped eight per cent in 2020 possibly due to warm and sunny weather at critical times drying out their water supplies. 2 Webbing clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella; feeds on silk, wool, fur and feathers): rose by three per cent 3 Woolly bear (a generic term for various carpet beetle larvae; feeds on silk, wool, fur and feathers): appears stable. 4 Australian spider beetle (Ptinus tectus; feeds on dust and detritus): numbers rising, though only north of the Midlands. 5 Common booklouse (Liposcelis bostrychophila; feeds on paper): slight rise in 2020, after a sharp increase in 2019.
Hard boulder A Roman millstone decorated with a phallus was one of the more unusual finds unearthed by a road upgrade. Of the 300 querns (hand mills) and millstones discovered during work on the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon, only one featured a phallus. Other examples have been found above the bakeries of Pompeii, one inscribed with Hic habitat felicitas’ (‘You will find happiness here’). Highways England’s, Steve Sherlock, said: “The phallus was seen as an important image of strength and virility in the Roman world, with it being common practice for legionaries to wear a phallus amulet, which would give them good luck before battle.” Above A carving of Roman virility is rare on millstones
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 9
LETTERS Have your say
Your Letters
This month’s postbag reveals memories of davenports, requests for information and a moan about buyer’s premium
Our star letter
receives a copy of Bulgari Treasures of Rome by Vincent Meylan worth £55. Write to us at Antique Collecting, Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD or email magazine@ accartbooks.com
Above right The
Like many people who write in, I, too, am after information. I recently purchased an old cast iron bench. During its restoration I noticed various markings and date stamps and I now believe (hope) I am the proud owner of a Victorian era Andrew McLaren & Co. bench. I know little about them, other than I have researched online, and wondered if any of your subscribers knew more? John Haskins, by email
davenport sparked memories of an eye hospital
Left A design by the Victorian maker, image courtesy of 1st Dibbs Below left The bench
may be by Andrew McLaren & Co.
Right Does anyone recognise this antiques shop?
As a newbie to auctions and online bidding one thing both intrigues me and rather sticks in my craw. What is a buyer’s premium, why does it differ so much from auction house to house, and – most importantly – why should I pay it? Any information greatly received. P. Hills, Herts, by email
Be part of the conversation on Twitter and Instagram @antiquemag
Star letter
When I read the article (Carry on Campaigning, February issue), which included the picture of a davenport, I was reminded of when, many years ago, I worked as a student ophthalmic nurse at a city eye hospital. The Victorian era building had a huge high-ceilinged, open-plan outpatients’ hall in which stood rows of davenports. Each was assigned to a particular ophthalmic specialist or surgeon and bore his or her name. Inside they kept their stationery and boxes of lenses. The building has long ceased being used as an eye hospital. I wonder what happened to all those lovely davenports? Sylvia Lees, Staffordshire
I have been a long-term fan of antiques and would like to appeal to your readers for help. I wondered if anyone recognised this antiques shop (above), or knew where it was? It may now be out of business – but I hope not. I saw it on an an old slide and would love to visit if it is still around. Sean Cresswell, by email
Answers to the quiz on page 24
1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (b) 4. (c) 5. (a) 6. (d) 7. (b) 8. (a) 9. (a) 10. (a) PREVENT AGING LIPS = stipple engraving (d) TOWN HAT = what-not (a) HEEL WITH PEP = Hepplewhite (c) LIE UNTIL MAD = illuminated (b) ANTIQUE COLLECTING 10
EXPERT OPINION Christina Trevanion C H R I S T I N A T R E VA N I O N
Lots of Love After nearly a year in lockdown, Christina pays homage to the ‘Grand Tourists’ of the 17th and 18th centuries
A
s lockdown restrictions ease, the one thing I am looking forward to is travelling. While I am incredibly lucky in my work to have travelled to some of the most remote corners of our great British Isles, I have to confess, that recent restrictions have meant that my clipped wings are yearning to fly once again. A year ago, piling the children into the car and driving to the coast would have been a special treat, albeit requiring the meticulous planning associated with a military drill. 12 months on, just the prospect of travelling anywhere (that is not the supermarket), fills me with absolute joy. So travel is very much on my mind while I consider how much we take it for granted.
HUMAN URGE Humans have always desired to explore the unknown and, even though it was much more difficult in the 17th and 18th centuries, that human quest remained the same. The Grand Tour, as it was known, was a trip through Europe undertaken by upper class young European men when they had ‘come of age’, typically about the age of 21, and could last anything from several months to several years. Its purpose was to explore the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, allowing the opportunity to view specific works of art and, possibly, the only chance to hear certain music. With a cohort of guides and chaperones, they visited countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Egypt and the Holy Lands – and most
Above right Many travellers bought Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s prints of Roman views, including ancient structures like the Colosseum
importantly, Italy. The trip was essential for budding artists to understand proper painting and sculpture techniques. Grand Tourists would return home with crates full of books, works of art, scientific instruments and (sometimes contentiously) cultural artefacts.
Below left John Brown
CLASSICAL REVIVAL
(1752-1787) A Grand Tour Group of Five Gentlemen in Rome
Below A pietra dura
table top, found in a stable, which sold for £7,500 last year, image courtesy of Trevanion Auctioneers and Valuers
Houses were extended and modified to accommodate these new and curious objects from exotic lands and the influence of these artefacts on our own cultural development should not be underestimated. If it wasn’t for the Grand Tour, many of the decorative styles in interiors, furniture and accessories: Adam, Sheraton, Hepplewhite, Chippendale, Rococo and the Renaissance revival, which are hugely sought after in today’s market, would probably not have even been created. Robert Adam’s interiors typically incorporated classical statuary, indeed the second Earl of Shelburne returned from his Grand Tour with nine life-sized figures which he set in niches in his dining room at Lansdowne. Such souvenirs fuelled the collections that would later become the foundation for today’s antique market. Grand Tour pieces remain incredibly popular at auction today – the quality of craftsmanship, the exoticism of the materials and the romantic notion of coming from far-flung places is a heady combination, and one that holds an alluring appeal to the collector. So here’s looking forward to a time when we can all go on our own mini Grand Tours again. Sadly, I shan’t be returning with nine life-sized sculptures, but I might look at duty free in a whole new light. Christina Trevanion is managing director and founder at Shropshire’s Trevanion Auctioneers & Valuers as well as a regular face on Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is and Flog it!
‘If it weren’t for the Grand Tour, many of the decorative styles in interiors, furniture and accessories: Adam, Sheraton, Hepplewhite, Chippendale, Rococo and the Renaissance revival, which are hugely sought after in today’s market, would probably not have even been created’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING
11
AUCTION Round up
AROUND the HOUSES It was a good month for one famous London street, as well as northern art and Pokémons
Ivon Hitchens (1893–1979) titled Afternoon in the Sitting Room
CHISWICK AUCTIONS, LONDON A 1954 pencil and gouache work titled Spiral head by Eileen Agar (1899–1991) was one of the top lots at the west London saleroom’s recent sale of the collection of Beryl and Allen Freer. Expected to make £1,000£2,000, it sold for £7,750, while a pencil and watercolour by Ivon Hitchens (1893–1979) titled Afternoon in the Sitting Room sold for £5,250 Spiral head against a pre-sale estimate of £700-£1,000. by Eileen Agar The Freer’s passion for art filled their (1899–1991) as one detached sixties home in a suburb south of of the sale’s Manchester with treasures. top sellers Chiswick Auctions, Krassi Kuneva, said: “We saw great interest from both trade and private buyers, many of whom knew the Freer family personally.”
Dali’s sculpture reflects two aspects of the Greek muse Terpsichore
HALLS, SHREWSBURY
––
CHEFFINS, CAMBRIDGE A limited-edition posthumously cast, 70cm sculpture by Salvador Dali (1904-1989), sold for £7,500 at the Cambridgeshire auction house. Hommage a Terpsichore (La Danse), which had an estimate of £5,000-£8,000, which was conceived 1977 and cast 1984, was signed by the Spanish artist along with the foundry stamp Jemelton. Terpsichore, the mythological Greek muse of dance, is seen as a dual or reflected image; one soft and classical in contrast to the other hardened and statuesque.
12
ANTIQUE COLLECTING
An early 20th-century chess set by Jaques of London more than tripled its estimate of £500, selling for £1,600 at the Shropshire auctioneer’s recent sale. The set was in the Staunton pattern, traditionally the design used in competitions. The journalist Nathaniel Cooke is credited with the design in 1849 which is named after the English chess master Howard Staunton. The style of set was first made available by Jaques of London in 1849, and quickly became the game's standard.
The set had a green label with the maker’s name Jaques & Son Ltd on the lid
BATEMANS, STAMFORD
CHARTERHOUSE AUCTIONEERS, SHERBORNE
Richard Bromell and the 17th-century watch found in a sock drawer
A museum-quality 17th-century watch in the form of a cross found in a sock drawer in a local cottage, failed to sell against an estimate of £20,000 at the Dorset auction house. The cruciform watch, made from brass in a rock crystal case and decorated with enamel, measures just 8cm. The dial has a chapter ring with Roman numerals, which is centred by the birth of Jesus above a vignette of Adam and Eve. Found in a little cardboard box with a pencil inscription “Lorna’s watch-clock Confirmation Present from me” it is thought by the family to have been a present from her parents some 80 or so years ago.
HANSONS, ETWALL A 350-year-old table dating back to the reign of King Charles II sold for four times its low estimate of £200 when it fetched £800 at the Derbyshire auction house. Hansons’ furniture specialist, Edward Rycroft, said: “It deserved to smash its guide price. You don’t see authentic pieces like this The oak joined table dates often.” Made from oak and joined using back to the reign a traditional pegged mortise and tenon of Charles II construction technique, pieces of this type are extremely difficult to fake. Supports were turned on a pedal lathe, making subtle irregularities in turnings. Edward continued: “The smooth, worn top and subtle wear just cannot be imitated easily.”
One of 13 golden Cadbury’s crème eggs, part of a nationwide treasure hunt in the 1980s, sold for £37,200 at the Lincolnshire auctioneers. The 13th, a 22ct gold egg, commissioned by Royal Goldsmiths Garrard & Co, was considerably larger than the original 12. Weighing 323.6g and 8.3cm high, it was based on the front cover of the book, Conundrum, incorporating elements of each of the 12 riddles. The egg hunt of the mid ‘80s saw 12 caskets hidden at secret locations across the country which were discoverable via clues in the book written by Don Shaw.
The 13th egg was based on the front cover of the book by Don Shaw
THE PEDESTAL, HENLEY-ON-THAMES A George II mahogany library armchair, in the manner of Giles Grendey (1693–1780), more than doubled its pre-sale estimate of £3,000 when it sold for £6,500 at the Oxfordshire auctioneer’s sale. Known as a ‘Gainsborough’ chair, it has down-swept moulded arms and cabriole legs above padded feet. Grendey was a leading London cabinet maker, born in Wooton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. He was the apprentice to the London joiner William Sherborne, becoming a freeman in 1716. So-called Gainsborough chairs were depicted in 18th-century portraits by the artist
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 13
AUCTION Round up The appeal of some toys is now moving into the collecting genre of folk art
EWBANK’S, WOKING The original foyer doors from the Abbey Road recording studio sold for more than four times their estimate when they fetched £17,500 at the Surrey auctioneers. The entrance, which welcomed The Beatles The and other stars for glass, frosted nearly 60 years, came with a letter of double doors had a low estimate authenticity from recording engineer of £2,000 and former Abbey Road manager Ken Townsend. They were acquired by an EMI executive when the studios were revamped in 1988, and have remained in private ownership since. At Ewbank’s earlier toy sale a Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, with its original box took £875 against a guide of £70-£100. But the top lot was a Lines Bros London Transport six-wheeler Omnibus by Tri-ang Toys, which, expected to make £200-£300, hammered at £1,375. Ewbank’s specialist, Alastair McCrea, said: “We have noticed some toys are having a wider appeal as folk art. The bus was a target for Thunderbirds were go when a interior decorators and folk art fans.” Captain Scarlet Pursuit Vehicle sold for £875
MALLAMS, OXFORD
The reproduction of the famous painting had an estimate of £800-£1,200
A copy of Velasquez’s famous work Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus), 1647-1651, depicted with the slashes made on it by the Suffragette Mary Richardson sold for £7,400 at the Oxfordshire saleroom on March 10. Painted by the English artist Nicholas Middleton (b. 1975) the sale on March 10 was exactly 107 years since Richardson defaced the original painting as it hung in the National Gallery in 1914. Richardson was protesting against the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst. “Slasher Mary”, as the press dubbed her, later admitted that it wasn’t just the picture’s value - £45,000 in 1906 - that made it a target. It was “the way men visitors gaped at it all day long”. The Rokeby Venus, described as “the most famous bottom in the world” was the seventh most viewed painting online in lockdown, according to the National Gallery when it opened its archive to the public during the pandemic.
The slippers and brandy glass were both owned by Sir Winston Churchill
BELLMANS, WISBOROUGH GREEN A pair of blue velvet slippers and a brandy balloon, both once owned by Sir Winston Churchill, sold for £32,000 and £15,000 respectively at the West Sussex auctioneers. The leather-soled, Alert-style slippers once owned by the wartime prime minister, had an estimate of £10,000-£15,000. They were embroidered in raised gold thread with the initials WSC, leather lined and stamped by the makers N. Tuczek, 17 Clifford St, Bond St, London. Along with the WSC monogrammed brandy balloon, c. 1960, which had an estimate of £7,000-£10,000, both lots were acquired at a ‘political’ sale at Sotheby’s on July 15, 1998.
14
ANTIQUE COLLECTING
The pierced and fretted double love spoon sold for multiple times its estimate The sale attracted bidders from all over the world
CATHERINE SOUTHON, CHISLEHURST Another piece of Abbey Road memorabilia did well in Kent when its iconic street sign sold for £37,200 against an estimate of £1,000-£2,000. The distinctive sign was one of 275 signs being sold on behalf of Westminster City Council, and went to an overseas bidder. The white glove sale attracted interest from all over the world, with the sign Eaton Place W1 fetching £2,728, against an estimate of £80-£120; while Ebury Bridge Road SW1 sold for £1,364 against an estimate of £70-90.
Being unopened means the buyer didn’t know what was inside
WILKINSONS, DONCASTER
The painting is a copy of Holbein’s Whitehall portrait destroyed by fire in 1698
A 17th-century portrait of King Henry VIII after Hans Holbein in a carved giltwood frame sold for £14,000 at the South Yorkshire auctioneer’s recent sale. In the picture, which had an estimate of £4,000-£6,000, the monarch is shown wearing a jewelencrusted doublet decorated with gold braid, a gold collar and gown lined with lynx fur, with a black bonnet decorated with jewels and white ostrich feather. It is a copy of a later derivation of Holbein’s Whitehall portrait destroyed by fire in 1698. At the same sale an early 19th-century fruitwood love spoon, carved with the initials GA, expected to sell for £600-£800, sold for a soaraway £3,200.
TENNANTS, LEYBURN RICHARD WINTERON, LICHFIELD A sealed Pokémon booster box was the top lot at a sale at the Staffordshire auctioneers celebrating 25 years of the gaming phenomenon. The unopened base set booster box from Wizards Of The Coast 1999/2000 fetched £16,000, midway between its pre-sale estimate of £14,000-£18,000. The online sale was timed to close at 10am GMT on March 8 – making it a convenient time for fans around the world: being 7pm in Japan, 6pm in Hong Kong and 3.30pm in India. Richard Winterton, whose auction house is increasingly specialising in the game, said: “This was the hottest Pokémon ticket in town.” In July 2020, the auction house sold a rare, complete 1st edition Pokémon base set for £25,000. International prices for Pokémon have skyrocketed in recent years – another sealed first edition booster box sold for £298,000. Last November, a PSA graded 10 first edition base set Charizard sold for over $350,100. The Pokémon booster box sold in Staffordshire was enclosed in cellophane branded with the WOTC logo. The purchaser would either open it to reveal its treasures, or keep it sealed for investment reasons. The box had the blue-winged Charizard on its side and is marked as being made in the USA.
There were two auction records set at the North Yorkshire auctioneers when a painting by the Bradford-born artist Frederick Cecil Jones (1891-1966) sold for £6,500 (smashing a previous record of £2,300), and a Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson carving sold for £13,000. The rare anthropomorphic ‘mouse’ craftsman, wearing a cap and apron, was part of 30 The rare lots collected by a local Mouseman textile magnate over carving was part of 50 years, with many a local collection pieces acquired from the Kilburn workshop.
The view of Scarborough, painted in 1950, went to a local private collector
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 15
THE EXPERT COLLECTOR Grinling Gibbons
16 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Funky Gibbons
This year marks the tercentenary of the death of the master carver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) described as the Michaelangelo of Wood. With a year of planned events in prospect, Antique Collecting considers the man and his legacy
B
ack when we were able to visit country houses and stately homes, nothing was more exciting than the sheer visceral joy of encountering, amid the portraits and roped off furniture, a Grinling Gibbons’ carving. The realistic limewood carvings of foliage, fruits and flowers and the occasional lobster literally leapt out at you – casting you back to the lavish meals, swaggering decoration and opulent ornamentation of 300 years ago. 2021 marks 300 years since the death of the Dutchborn carver whose work left such an indelible mark on British baroque. The year will celebrate his achievements in a succession of exhibitions and events dedicated to the UK’s best-known woodcarver. During and after his death he spawned ‘Gibbons’ style’ both in his trademark ornamental carving in limewood, as well as work in stone, bronze statues and stone monuments. Gibbons’ signature cascades of fruit, leaves, flowers, foliage, fish and birds were applied to panelling, furniture, walls and chimney pieces. So ornate was his skill he even created lace-like cravats in limewood, one of which Horace Walpole wore in public in 1769 (currently on display at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire). V&A director and president of the Grinling Gibbons Society, Dr Tristram Hunt, said: “Grinling Gibbons is rightly revered as one of the greatest woodcarvers in the history of European sculpture. He helped to shape the aesthetic of the British baroque and set the benchmark for craftsmanship, naturalism and technical proficiency.”
EARLY DAYS Gibbons was one of seven children born to James Gibbons and Elisabeth Gorling in Rotterdam. His birth date was recorded as April 4, 1648, his father, James Gibbons, was an English merchant adventurer and a Freeman of the Drapers’ Company in London. Elisabeth was a daughter of an English tobacco merchant in Rotterdam, Francis Gorling. Grinling’s unusual name is a corrupted version of his mother’s maiden name, while his elder brother, Dingly, was named after their grandmother’s maiden name.
Opposite page Carvings by Grinling Gibbons in the Carved Room, Petworth House and Park, West Sussex, including around a portrait of King Henry VIII, © National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel Above right The Carved Room at Petworth House and Park, West Sussex, © National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel Below Grinling Gibbons’
St David’s panel, now seen at Fairfax House, York
Little is known of Grinling Gibbons’ earliest training. The most important sculptors in the Netherlands in the 1600s were the Flemish Quellinus family. It is thought that Gibbons was either apprenticed to Artus Quellin the Elder (1609-1668) who had a workshop in Amsterdam or to his cousin, Artus Quellin the Younger, (1625-1700) who worked in Antwerp from 1657 onwards. Grinling certainly had a close connection with the Antwerp cousin, for his son, also Artus but usually called Arnold, worked with Gibbons in England from 1680 until his death in 1686.
YORK DAYS Before his 20th birthday, around 1667, Gibbons moved to England, first settling in York, perhaps through connections in the wool trade. York at the time was a vibrant commercial, artistic and intellectual milieu. Here he worked as a journeyman for three years between 1667 and 1671 under the pre-eminent York architect, builder and carver, John Etty (c.1634-1708). Gibbons’ only surviving carving from that period is a boxwood panel of King David, now at Fairfax House, York. He is also known to have produced a wood sculpture, depicting Elijah with a juniper tree and an angel, and a boxwood portrait of Charles II, now lost. These early carvings suggest that he arrived in England with a knowledge of working with European woods, such as boxwood and limewood, as well as some experience of the carving techniques used in southern Germany. It showed he must have used a finer set of tools than those possessed by English carvers who carved mainly in oak. Etty remained close to the young carver who, in a letter dated July 10, 1684, long after he’d left the city addressed him as his ‘Deare frind’, writing, ‘I hartely beg Youer pardon for not writing to You in dead my business is so great … but You may be Asuer noe man haes A hier vallu for You then my sealf’.
CAPITAL THINKING The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the Great Fire of London in 1666 provided huge opportunities for craftsmen, many of whom flocked to the UK from Europe and the Low Countries. While opportunities there may have been in the north, looking to broaden ANTIQUE COLLECTING 17
THE EXPERT COLLECTOR Grinling Gibbons
Wren’s reluctance
his horizons Gibbons left York in early 1671 and moved to Deptford in southwest London where he saw the opportunities presented as a ships carver in the Royal Naval dockyard. Although there was plenty of work available Gibbons had set his sights even higher. His talent did not go unnoticed for long and he was soon “discovered” by the diarist John Evelyn (1620-1706) while carving a relief copy of Tintoretto’s Crucifixion in ‘a poore solitary thatched house ’ near Evelyn’s home at Sayes Court in Deptford. On March 23, 1682, Evelyn wrote: ‘[I] saw him about such a work, as for the curiosity of handling, drawing and studious exactness, I never in my life had seene before in all my travells.’ Proud of his new protégé Evelyn took Gibbons to the Court to present him to Charles II, who was somewhat subdued in his enthusiasm. On presentation of a carving, he suggested Gibbons take it to the queen’s bedchamber, assuming Queen Catherine was likely to buy it, ‘it being a Crucifix’.
NEW DAWN Gibbons soon realised his religious depictions misjudged the prevalent mood of restoration England and its ‘Merry Monarch’, Charles II. He started to concentrate on more flamboyant ornamental carving and was soon commissioned by Thomas Betterton (1635-1710), probably through Evelyn’s influence, to produce the carved ornament for his new Dorset Garden Theatre. Betterton was the leading male actor and theatre manager in Restoration England and his new theatre was the most luxurious in the capital at the time. Here Gibbons was “discovered” again, this time by the court artist and Dutch-born Sir Peter Lely (16181688) who, admiring the carved capitals, cornices and eagles, enquired about the maker. Lely was a close friend of Hugh May (1621-1684) who was to become the architect for the most important royal project of the time, Charles II’s rebuilding of Windsor Castle.
18 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Above Gibbons’ reredos at Trinity College Chapel, Oxford, © Grinling Gibbons Society Above right The crest at St James, Piccadilly, © Grinling Gibbons Society. One of the very few places where Gibbons’ work can be seen as he intended: light coloured limewood carvings mounted on darker oak panels
It took another influential character some time to warm to Gibbons. When Evelyn introduced Gibbons to Christopher Wren in the 1670s, the architect was employing the leading British woodcarvers for a number of projects rebuilding London’s churches after the Great Fire. While Wren employed Gibbons intermittently on the spectacular font cover for All Hallows by the Tower (1682) and the reredos carving for St Mary Abchurch (1686), it was only in the 1690s, with Gibbons’ reputation well established, that he employed him to decorate the new St Paul’s Cathedral where Gibbons and his workmen worked mainly in the years 1694-1697. Here he carved ornaments in stone, oak and lime for the choir, the case and screen for the Great West Organ and decoration for the library and the Bishop’s throne. Externally, they also provided reliefs for the pediments on the west front and festoons under the windows.
Right Gibbons’ carvings
at St James, Piccadilly, © Grinling Gibbons Society
Below right St George’s
Hall, Windsor from W.H. Pyne’s Royal Residences, 1819 showing the baroque work carried out at the castle by architect Hugh May and Grinling Gibbons. St George’s Hall was redecorated in the early 19th century, but several smaller interiors from this period survive
The influential pair arranged a second presentation of Gibbons to the King, this time at Windsor Castle, at the start of May’s rebuilding of the medieval building (c.1675) in the prevalent Baroque style. Steering clear of religious icons, Gibbons presented a carved chimney piece in wood with a festoon of fishes, shells and other ornaments; the King hired Gibbons immediately. His subsequent decorative work at Windsor Castle (c.1676–1682) set the seal of royal
approval on the ornate style and established his fame. Charles II also commissioned Gibbons to create the Cosimo Panel, completed in 1682 (on display at the Pitti Palace, Florence) – a diplomatic gift from the King to Cosimo III de Medici, which is another tour de force of Gibbons’ naturalistic carving.
London life
Gibbons married his wife, Elizabeth, around the time he moved to London. Their first child, James, was baptised at St Botolph’s Church, Aldgate on May 23, 1672, and 11 others followed, mostly dying in infancy or early childhood. The baptism of a baby Grinling Gibbons is recorded in the register of St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street on May 28, 1675 and his burial only three days later. Five daughters but no sons survived into adulthood. In 1678, the family moved to a large house on Bow Street, Covent Garden, an area popular with artists. Gibbons would remain here for the rest of his life. Gibbons died intestate at his home in Bow Street on August 3, 1721 and, on August 10, was buried in London at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, where his wife had been buried two years before.
COUNTRY HOUSE COMMISSIONS During the Restoration, the aristocracy set out to re-establish their authority over the country by embarking on an ambitious rebuilding programme. New country houses were commissioned and old ones either demolished or radically redesigned and extended. The nobility vied with each other to employ the best craftsmen to create lavish interiors and Gibbons’ royal patronage meant that he was much in demand. Major non-royal commissions included Badminton House, Gloucestershire for Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort (1682-1683) and Burghley House for John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter (1683-1685). Some of his finest work can be seen at Petworth House, Sussex, now owned by the National Trust, where Gibbons carried out work for Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset in the early 1690s.
WILLIAM III After the death of Charles II, his brother, James II, a Roman Catholic, began work on a new chapel at the Palace of Whitehall, the main residence of English monarchs from 1530 until its destruction by fire in 1698. James II reigned only from 1685 until 1688 but Gibbons continued to enjoy royal patronage. For William III, he carried out work on a new range of state rooms at Hampton Court Palace from 1689 until 1694 and further work at Kensington Palace in the 1690s and, in 1693, William appointed Gibbons Master Sculptor and Carver in Wood to the Crown. But his time in the ascendancy did not last. 1702 was a difficult year for Gibbons. The death of William III and the accession of Queen Anne to the throne marked a gradual change in fashion – the demand for elaborate woodcarvings dropped and from that time onwards Gibbons worked mainly in stone.
GIBBONS DECLINE While the sculptor’s baroque carvings would ultimately go out of fashion during the Hanoverian period as tastes started to favour the more restrained and austere classical style, his incomparable talent and the immense contribution he made to the artistic scene in England in the period cannot be overstated.
Above right Gibbons’ carvings at Hampton Court Palace, © Historic Royal Palaces Left Gibbons’ carvings in the Cartoon Gallery, Hampton Court Palace, © Historic Royal Palaces Right Gibbons’ carvings
in the Presence Chamber, Kensington Palace, © Historic Royal Palaces
Below right A curator
attends to Gibbons’ carvings in Kensington Palace, © Historic Royal Palaces
Did you know? It is a myth Gibbons used a peapod motif as his signature, which was disproved by a historian in 1963. The sheer output of Gibbons and his studio makes attribution difficult as many followed his carving style, including the peapod motif. ANTIQUE COLLECTING 19
THE EXPERT COLLECTOR Grinling Gibbons In the style of… Gibbons spawned a style of woodwork that inspired many disciples whose work is more affordable than that of the legendary carver. One such was Edward Pearce (1635-1695) an architect and sculptor who, like Gibbons, flourished in the building boom that followed the Restoration and the Great Fire of London. Pearce also carried out work at the now demolished Cassiobury House in Watford, the contents of which were bought by a benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exuberant carving of the staircase is attributed to Pearce, but it is very similar to the work of Grinling Gibbons. A set of four carved panels in oak by Pearce sold for £7,800 at Sotheby’s in 2005. Below Compton Verney will host an exhibition on
Gibbons from September
Discover more
To celebrate the tercentenary of the death of Britain’s finest carver of wood, 2021 sees a year-long programme of UK-wide events, under the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales. The festival will launch on August 3 – the anniversary of Gibbons’ death – with a national exhibition, Centuries in the Making, at Bonhams New Bond Street. The exhibition will run until August 27. Bonhams’ Robin Hereford, said: “Centuries in the Making promises to be the definitive exhibition, not only highlighting Gibbons’ great achievements as an artist, sculptor and craftsman, but also his immense and enduring influence as Britain’s greatest carver.” The exhibition will include loans from national museums, regional collections, historic houses and some international lenders. It will then go on show at Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire, until February 2022. Compton Verney Director-CEO, Julie Finch, said: “This is an exhibition for everyone, spotlighting craft, its influence on the everyday and the extraordinary, and inspiring others to originate their own craft.”
20 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
PETWORTH
Q&A
Commissioned by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, the Carved Room at Petworth House, West Sussex, is Grinling Gibbons’ crowning achievement. We caught up with its cultural heritage curator Rebecca Wallis
Q A
Why did the 6th Duke of Somerset chose Grinling for the job? Had he any connection to previous works? In choosing Gibbons for the job, the Duke and Duchess of Somerset were showing their loyalty to the crown. They were an integral part of William and Mary’s close court circle and would have been aware of the carver’s royal patronage. In the same year as the 6th Duke (1662-1748) and Duchess (1667-1722) of Somerset commissioned the Carved Room at Petworth (c.1692), William and Mary engaged him to work at Kensington Palace. In his role as Chancellor of Trinity College Cambridge, the Duke had also commissioned Gibbons to work on the Wren Library the year before. The Carved Room at Petworth represents Grinling Gibbons at the height of his skill and imagination in carving sculptural ornament. Below The limewood carving of musical
instruments by Grinling Gibbons, situated on the east wall of the Carved Room at Petworth House, West Sussex, ©National Trust Images/ Andreas von Einsiedel
Q
Can you pick out any particular symbols used with a political (or other) resonance to the period or commission? Dutch craft and style, of this type, was emblematic of William and Mary’s reign. The Somersets’ allegiance is further shown in details such as the sheet music, in the musical trophy, showing part of the semi-opera Fairy Queen which was composed by Henry Purcell in 1692, to celebrate the 15th wedding anniversary of the royal couple. The power-couple duke and duchess were also demonstrating their own position in society by incorporating four full-length portraits of themselves and the duke’s grandparents, framed by the carved family crest, and other armorials – all by Gibbons.
A
Q A
Is there any evidence of letters/ receipts to do with the project? The Petworth House archives contain references to the commission including ‘A bill paid to Mr Gibbons for Carving…£150’ on December 10, 1692 (about £18,000 today), indicating that work in the room was well under way by this point. Inventories of 1749/50 and 1764 also give wonderful descriptions of the original room ‘flounced all about with carving’ with ‘Pictures of Full length in carv’d frames’.
Q A
Are there any other examples of Dutch craftsmanship at Petworth? Petworth was transformed by the Duke and Duchess into a FrancoDutch style palace with the advice of King William II’s French-born, Dutch architect and designer, Daniel Marot (1661-1752). The panelling in the Marble Hall (completed in 1692) was almost certainly designed by Marot and compares to his work for the Binnenhof Palace in The
The Carved Room, with the four paintings by Turner restored to the panelling, at Petworth ©National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel
Hague. Marot also designed stands for East Asian porcelain collected by the Duchess of Somerset which was imported into Europe by the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch connection continues in the fine art collection, which is home to 17 paintings by van Dyck.
Q A
Do any of the carvings represent the room they were used for? Gibbons’ carvings were originally installed in a smaller drawing room for entertaining close friends and guests. Entertainment, an essential part of 17th-century hospitality, is represented in the trophy of musical instruments including a violin, recorder, mandolin and trumpet. Additional carvings, showing birds, fish and lobsters, reflect the types of food served to guests in the 19th century when the extended space was used as a dining room.
Q A
How involved would Grinling have been in the carvings? Gibbons was almost certainly involved in carving the showpieces such as the key elements of trophies. He would also have held a supervisory role for his highly-skilled workshop team; this may have included some preliminary carving for his assistants to finish. By the 1680s, Gibbons ran the largest wood carving workshop in England and he would have been factory-like in dividing the
areas of work and production, especially for large commissions. The various elements of a scheme were made in the workshop and assembled onsite.
Q A
How have the presentation of the limewood carvings changed over time? Originally the lighter lime carvings were placed against the darker oak
Q A
Some people talk about a visceral reaction to Grinling’s work seen in the flesh. The Carved Room has delighted visitors since its creation. Horace Walpole wrote in 1749 that Petworth housed ‘the finest carving of Gibbons that ever my eyes beheld’. The carvings still evoke an emotional reaction in many who visit Petworth, it is incredible how they have survived over 300 years and the skill involved is equal to anything that can be created today. A favourite piece of mine is the trophy group of vases which Walpole described as ‘as perfect and beautiful as some Grecian master’.
Q A
Is it possible to get a sense of the man through his work at Petworth? The original, more intimate, space allowed for close study of the trophies and picture surrounds, so the quality and detail on these carvings is executed at a far higher level than for other commissions where his work is often placed high, away from the viewer.
The Carved Room at Petworth House will open to visitors from May 17. Find more details at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ petworth-house-and-park
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 21
ANTIQUES UNDER THE HAMMER Out of the Ordinary
SALEROOM SPOTLIGHT
With items ranging from a working flea circus to a working Dalek, an Essex sale this month highlights some of the most extraordinary pieces ever created
Did you know? Mark Scaliot in 1578 is credited with securing a flea to a chain with “a lock consisting of 11 different pieces of steel, iron, and brass which, together with the key belonging to it, weighed only one grain.”
Top right Professor Len Tomlin performing with flea on a wire rope Left The 2m rearing alicorn has an estimate of £8,000-£12,000 at the two-day sale on April 13-14
the comfort of the operator and two speakers for sound. The current owner, who purchased it four years ago, has fitted it with a motor so it can be driven around. But for those with a less intergalactic outlook, but in search of a show-stopping gift for the unicorn lover in their lives – look no further. This month’s sale, extended this year to two days, includes a rearing 2m “alicorn” complete with wings and a unicorn’s “horn” (likely in this 20th-century piece of taxidermy made from a stag’s antlers). The alicorn has an estimate of £8,000£12,000.
YEAR-LONG PROJECT For the sale’s curator Mark Wilkinson who, prior to arriving at Sworders, launched Christie’s interiors sales and Bonhams’ important design series, curating the Out of the Ordinary sale starts as soon as the hammer falls at the end of the last auction. With previous successes including, in 2018, a 1.67m 19th-century whale’s penis stuffed with horse hair (which sold for a £4,600) and a full-mount Canadian polar bear (which sold for £20,000
I
f you really want to take social distancing to another level this spring, how about ditching the mask and enclosing yourself in a fully-functioning Dalek? A 1.6m model that appeared in three episodes of Doctor Who is one of the highlights of Sworders’ annual Out of the Ordinary sale this month. And it isn’t just any Dalek. Expected to sell for £15,000, it is Dalek Sec, head of the Cult of Skaro, one of the elite band of four Daleks that first appeared in the 2006 Army of Ghosts episode of series two. Moving on 4in (10cm) trolley wheels, inside is a foam-padded bench seat for
Below left The Tomlin Flea Circus with a photo of the original circus booth in Manchester. Comprising two swing trapezes, a chariot, two bicycles, a windmill, a garden roller, a carriage and a duelling pedestal, it has an estimate of £1,500-£2,000 in this month’s sale Right A Dalek, c. 2010, with a rubber sucker cap, standard Dalek metal gun and the Dalek Sec’s identity code painted beneath the eyestalk. It is expected to make £15,000£18,000 in this month’s sale
22 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
AUCTION fact file Above The sword was presented by the Russian empress to a faithful Cossack and has an estimate of £20,000-£25,000
in 2019), there is a lot at stake. But he is in bullish mood: “This is going to be our craziest sale ever. With fairs on hold, auctions are currently the only show in town. Not only that, the year of lockdowns has seen people looking to revamp their interiors or reinvigorate their collections.”
WHAT: Out of the Ordinary From: Sworders, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, CM24 8GE How: Live Online When: April 13-14 Viewing: Online at www.sworder.co.uk from April
HOPPING GLAD Another highlight comes in the diminutive shape of the UK’s only surviving Victorian flea circus, until the late ‘80s owned by Manchester-based Len and Evelyn Tomlin, who would employ professional insect catchers to trawl cities looking for fleas. Flea circuses were a hugely popular form of fairground entertainment between the 1830s and 1960s in both England and Germany. Watchmakers and jewellers were among the earliest people skilled enough to manipulate this micro world, with fleas’ powerful back legs allowing them to ‘perform’ when attached to some form of apparatus. Ankie Wild, who acquired the circus to appear in the Ribchester Museum of Childhood, said: “Owners would select the strongest insects for pulling the chariot and others for balancing acts such as high wires. The hardest part is harnessing the flea because its body has no skeleton.” Vacuum cleaners and central heating systems put paid to the common flea, leading to the decline of the flea circus.
SABRE-RATTLING GOOD An 18th-century sabre (above) presented by Catherine the Great to a favoured Cossack has the sale’s highest pre-sale estimate of £20,000-£25,000. The 64cm scabbard, once owned by the property developer Lord McAlpine, who died in 2014, is inscribed in Cyrillic and was presented to Ivan the Cossack son of Vassily Lukianov. A rare pair of early late 19th or early 20th-century “bobbin” hats worn by porters at London’s Billingsgate fish market is also going under the hammer. The hats were so called because a the bobbin was the name given for the payments porters received from the buyers, when delivering the fish to their vans. The hats have an estimate of £500-£700.
IN MY OPINION...
We asked sale curator Mark Wilkinson for his auction highlights Where do you expect interest to come?
In lockdown, people have been concentrating on interiors like never before and we are seeing more and more people looking for that one-off statement piece. With fairs not able to take place we are seeing great interest from interior designers looking for quirky items. Buying online has increased hugely in the last year, because of this we are sending out more photographs than ever before and answering more queries. But it seems to work as we are attracting a new audience for whom the Out of the Ordinary sale is perfect.
What will be of especial interest?
The Dalek. Daleks are now almost 60 years old – the doctor’s first encounter with them was in the second series in 1963-1964 – but they remain the most famous of all the Dr Who villains. It’s rare for an original to come up for sale and it helps that we can pinpoint its full TV history. Up close it is stunning. The Whovians are going to love it.
Above A ventriloquist’s dummy, 1.22m high, comes with original photographs. It has an estimate of £1,200£1,500 Far right The life-size wooden panel of a girl band dates to the 1960s Right The unusual illustration by the Punch illustrator A. W. Mills has an estimate of £800£1,200 Above The bobbin hats
were warn by Billingsgate porters
‘For those with a less intergalactic outlook, look no further than a 2m “alicorn”, complete with wings and a unicorn’s “horn”’
Do you have a favourite lot?
As ever, we have a strong witchcraft section in the sale and I particularly like this late 19th-century pen and ink illustration picture (above) by Arthur Wallis Mills (1878-1940). It is called The Incantation and shows a snake curled around a witch’s waist, with an owl on her shoulder and flanked by grinning monkeys on either side. I also have a soft spot for a near life-size, wooden cut out of a 16-piece 1960s girl band. The group would have been part of the interior display at the Liverpool band’s base, the Leyland club, where they regularly played. The Beatles played a gig at the same club early in their career. The portraits were removed from the club during a refit some years ago. So unusual and charming, it has an estimate of £1,500-2,000.
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 23
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Puzzle TIME Boost your antiques know-how with questions and a crossword from our compiler Peter Wade-Wright
Send your answers to Crossword, Antique Collecting magazine, Sandy Lane, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, UK. Photocopies are also acceptable, or email your answer to: magazine@accartbooks. com. The first three opened April 10 will win a copy of 100 British Chairs by Adam Bowett, worth £25.
APRIL QUIZ
9 Which writer highlighted the limitation of art by pointing out that the essence of every picture is the frame?
1 The Victorian mapmaker, Thomas Moule, issued maps of English counties, and some notable cities, in which year?
(a) G.K. Chesterton, (b) T.S. Eliot, (c) C. S. Lewis, (d) Dorothy L. Sayers. 10 An aryballos is: (a) a squat flask, (b) a rounded stone thrown as a weapon, (c) a box, originally French, used to store pétanque boules, (d) a Victorian toy
(a) 1810, (b) 1820, (c) 1830, (d) 1840. 2 Moule’s Prospectus was issued with his first separately-issued map. Was it? (a) The City of Bath (b) Bedfordshire (c) Berkshire (d) Buckinghamshire 3 There are basically three types of glass (a) soda (b) potash and (c) lead. Which, from the German and Bohemian Middle Ages, is usually referred to as verre de fougère? 4 Which has the greatest clarity?
Above Moule’s map of Cornwall Below left The pilot after whom the first true wristwatch was named
5 As it cools from the molten state, which remains plastic, hence malleable, for longer than the other two?
Finally, here are four anagrams … PREVENT AGING LIPS… TOWN HAT… HEEL WITH PEP… LIE UNTIL MAD. Rearrange them to form, in no particular order, (a) a Regency small stand with shelves (two words) (b) description of manuscripts adorned with coloured lettering etc. (c) George ______ 18th-century furniture maker, and (d) a method of decorating glass with minute dots (two words).
6 Which manufacturer is said to have produced the first true wristwatch? (a) Patek Philippe (b) Rolex (c) Vacheron & Constantin (d) Cartier 7 Roughly, in which year was this watch produced? (a) 1900 (b) 1904 (c) 1908 (d) 1912 9 It was made for, and named after an aviator (the design is still known as such today). What is it called? (a) Santos (b) Stevos (c) Stavros (d) Santoine
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For the answers turn to page 10
SOLUTION TO LAST MONTH’S CROSSWORD:
The letters in the highlighted squares D, O, O, U, A, P, M, R, and P were rearranged to give the word pompadour. The winners, who will each receive a copy of the book, are Tom Clarke, by email; Ian Troughton, by email; Jess Pearce, Nottingham
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ACROSS CLUE A Bidjar rug
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1 Small, carved, Japanese fastener. (7) 6. A likely place to find antiques? (5) 8. Thin lines of any substance…usually fibres but not always. (pl.) (7) 9 Latin for ‘earth’, hence ____ alba is (white) kaolin, pipeclay etc. (5) 11. ____ glass. Venetian decoration (dating from the 16th century) produced by plunging hot glass into water and later reheating it. (3) 12 Architectural term for a sharp edge on stone, tiling etc. where two surfaces meet. (5) 14 ____ group. Name given to seated figures made in Staffordshire between 1730-1740. (3) 15 Large musical instruments with ancient forebears. ‘Gothic’ and ‘Grecian’ are two types. (pl.) (5) 18 Architectural term meaning ‘without columns’. (7) 19 _____ stand, also called a Canterbury. (5) 20 From the mountainous region of Turkey, Iran and Iraq, hence the name of a type of a flatweave rug. The Bidjar is an example. (7)
‘A type of grater once used for tobacco…’
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DOWN CLUE
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1 City in the UK East Midlands once internationally known for lace and alabaster. (10) 2 _____ - decker. One of the popular Victorian terms for novels issued in several volumes. (5) 3 American china clay used to make early Bow porcelain. (6) 4 Compass designation used in the title of a trading company formed in 1599. (4) 5 One of the main luminary marks used in the late 18th century on Doccia porcelain. (4) 7 Seat of the Dukes of Devonshire with an incredible collection of art, sculpture, furniture etc. (10) 10 Karl ____ 19th-century German porcelain manufacturer and artist. Known for his windmill mark. (3) 12 Hans ____ (also known as Jean ____). German-French Dadaist and abstract sculptor, painter and poet. (1886-1966) (3) 13 The primary Mesopotamian goddess (of love, war, fertility…and just about everything else, apparently) known as Inanna in Sumerian sources. Often sculped. (6) 14 Luigi _____ (1432-1484). Italian poet and diplomat best known for the Renaissance epic Morgante. (5) 16 A type of grater often once used for tobacco. (4) 17 Old name for various dry, white wines from Spain and the Canaries. (4) Finally: rearrange the letters in the highlighted squares to form the name of a piece of furniture with an upholstered seat, no arms but with a work drawer, to be used for a home-based handicraft. It was designed by Charles Addison for a 1948 Scottish competition of industrial design. (8, 5)
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 25
COLLECTING GUIDES Alfred Wallis
Waves of Change An ongoing exhibition of the work of outsider maritime artist Alfred Wallis at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge reveals how he changed the tide of British modern art
Here, he eked out a living in a variety of employment and enterprises, including periods as a labourer, constructing government huts during WWI, selling icecream and even starting his own marine scrap business. Even after Susan’s children had left home, the couple’s precarious financial situation did not improve. When she died on June 7, 1922, an increasingly isolated and impoverished Alfred was left to grieve alone.
PAINT RELIEF It was around this time that Wallis made the unlikely decision to start painting, something of which he had hitherto shown no interest or inclination to do. While the catalyst for this new creative chapter remains obscure, most theories suggest it was an activity to stave off his loneliness and ongoing grief. In his book, Alfred Wallis: Primitive, the artist and writer Sven Berlin suggests the grief-stricken artist theory may be true. According to one local shopkeeper, Wallis said: “Aw! I dono how to pass away time. I think I’ll do a bit a paintin’ – think I’ll draw a bit.” Wallis soon enthusiastically embraced his new calling, creating a prolific body of work. Despite, or perhaps because of, his lack of formal artistic training, the paintings give full flight to his sense of nostalgia, vividly bringing to life the memories of his time at sea, alongside the boats and ships that sailed along the Cornish coastline. From twin-masted and multi-sailed brigantines to modern steamers or the flying scuds used by in-shore fishermen, the vessels are all depicted with the same captivatingly naïve honesty.
HOLIDAY SPOT
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hat is a generally accepted wisdom is that artists tend to produce their most creatively expressive, adventurous and ground-breaking works during their younger years. However, despite the Cornish painter and mariner Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) picking up his brush late in life – at the age of 70 – he still helped to shape the face of 20th-century British modernist art, and remains much in demand some eight decades on. While little is known of his early years, Wallis was born in Devonport, Plymouth on August 8, 1855, and records show that by 1876 he was working as a sailor and married to a widow named Susan Ward, 23 years his senior. With the marriage came the responsibility of a new family, including his wife’s five surviving children. Varying accounts find Wallis working onboard deep-sea boats in the Atlantic, then as a crew on local fishing boats, before finally moving to St Ives in Cornwall.
26 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Above Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) Shipwreck 1 – The Wreck of the Alba, 1938-1940. Image courtesy of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
In a moment of cultural serendipity, in August 1928 the avant garde artists Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, both pioneers of abstract art and modernism, were holidaying in St Ives when they spotted Wallis’ paintings through the doorway of his cottage at 3 Back Road West. Keen to discover more, the pair ventured within and were amazed to find countless paintings roughly nailed to the walls of Wallis’ home. They soon purchased a large number to take back with them to London where they shared them with like-minded, abstractleaning artists and critics. This chance meeting was to propel Wallis and his work to an acclaim that the septuagenarian would find hard to imagine or fathom. Just a year after their first meeting, Nicholson arranged for Wallis’ artworks to be included in an avantgarde group exhibition organised by the art group, the Seven and Five Society in London. Nicholson had joined the society in 1924, helping to transform its creatively
‘Throughout his short career, Wallis employed the weatherproof paint used on boats for his pictures painted on an assortment of found ‘canvases’, ranging from recycled cardboard, to old fish boxes and driftwood’
conservative outlook with the aid of other modernists such as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. With such influential young artists championing his work, along with the prominent critic Adrian Stokes, Wallis was soon receiving high praise from the modernist milieu of the day for his unique techniques and unusual choice of materials.
NATURAL TALENT Throughout his short career, Wallis refused to use professional artistic paints or pigments, instead employing the weatherproof paint used on boats for his pictures painted on an assortment of found ‘canvases’, ranging from recycled cardboard, to old fish boxes and driftwood. How he used the paint could also change to capture different elements of his scenes, from rolling seas to heavy storm clouds. Elsewhere, other pictures demonstrate straighter and concise line-drawings that capture his subjects in a manner more akin to the technical drawings of a drafting technician. Wallis’ desire to create paintings that were immersive to the viewer can be seen in images of ships pitching and tossing on the waves. His landscapes featuring the local geography and landmarks of St Ives, including the harbour, lighthouse and rows of houses, also appear in semi-abstract or condensed form. Some critics have claimed the fluidity and ‘untutored’ nature of his images – where relative
Above Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) Ship with seven men, net and gull, no date. Image courtesy of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
dimensions are distorted, perspective skewed and angles slanted – is due to Wallis’ lack of artistic tuition. Others argue it is just this technique that allows him to capture the essential and innate ‘spirit’ of the Cornish environment, rather than merely representational scenes of his beloved countryside.
Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) Two ships and steamer sailing past a port – Falmouth and St. Anthony lighthouse, c. 1931. Image courtesy of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 27
COLLECTING GUIDES Alfred Wallis
INFLUENTIAL ARTIST
Wallis and Kettle’s Yard The exhibition, Alfred Wallis Rediscovered at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge has now been extended (dates to be confirmed), along with its accompanying online collection of related resources called Alfred Wallis at Home. It includes more than 60 rarely shown paintings and drawings from Kettle’s Yard’s reserve collection and three important sketchbooks from the last year of the artist’s life, which have never been exhibited. As well as the gallery exhibition, visitors will also be able to explore the many Alfred Wallis paintings on permanent display at Kettle’s Yard. The late Harold Stanley (‘Jim’) Ede, a former assistant curator at the Tate, and founder of Kettle’s Yard, was a huge supporter of Alfred Wallis, buying a large number of his work while he was alive and cementing his reputation after his death. Though they never met, the two men were lively correspondents between 1929 and 1938, during which time Ede amassed more than 120 paintings. As a result, Kettle’s Yard has the most substantial institutional holding of work by Wallis anywhere in the world. After Wallis’ death, Ede said of the artist in 1945: Wallis was an innocent painter, with a living rather than an intellectual experience, a power of direct perception [...]. Each painting was to him a re-living, a re-presenting, achieved unconsciously in regard to the act of painting, but vividly conscious in its factual awareness. Using Wallis’ letters and sketchbooks, as well as the evidence of the paintings themselves, the exhibition reveals how Wallis had a growing awareness of his own artistic development. To find out the latest on the exhibition, as well as new opening times, go to www.kettlesyard.co.uk
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Above Page from Grey Sketchbook, Alfred Wallis Sketchbooks, 1941-1942, lent anonymously. All rights reserved Above Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) Brigantine sailing past green fields, no date, oil on card. Image courtesy of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
Wallis’ influence on the group of younger artists of the Seven and Five Society – all of whom were keen to redefine the boundaries of art – is obvious. Both Nicholson and Wood, who helped to establish St Ives as a bastion of British modern art, adopted Wallis’ use of unconventional materials on which to create works, such as unframed wooden boards. Similarly, the muted and restrained colour palette that Wallis used for his coastal scenes is present in their own works from the era, as is his unique sense of perspective and proportion. Nicholson wrote of the elderly artist’s approach, “I don’t think good Wallis is representational, it is simply REAL.” Christopher Wood concurred with his friend, stating how, “I’m more and more influenced by Alfred Wallis – not a bad master though; he and Picasso both mix their colours on box lids!” However, despite such plaudits, Wallis did not benefit from his newfound fame during the latter years of his life. While St Ives became established as a centre for modern and abstract developments, Wallis never considered himself part of this artistic movement. With the onset of old age, his continued eccentricity and deteriorating mental health, he was eventually sent to live in the Madron Public Assistance Institution where he finally died in 1942.
Sailing High Works by Alfred Wallis always generate interest at auction, with collectors around the world drawn to his simple studies of boats and the Cornish coastline
Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) West Country Schooner on a Swell, oil on card, sold for £28,750 at Lawrences Auctioneers in Crewkerne, Somerset in October 2020. Image courtesy of Lawrences Fine Art Auctioneers Ltd
Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) Sailing Ship in Stormy Sea, oil and pencil on card, signed ‘Alfred Wallis’ on the lower right, sold for £24,000 in Christie’s Modern British Art Sale on March 2, 2021. Image courtesy of Christie’s Alfred Wallis (1855-1942) A Steamship and a Schooner Passing the Coast (recto); A Path Through a Wood (verso), oil and pencil on an artist’s paintbox, signed ‘alfred wallis’ on the lower right recto, sold for £100,000 at Bonhams in 2020. Image courtesy of Bonhams
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 29
COLLECTING GUIDES Alfred Wallis
Outsiders In
As interest in self-taught, naïve, visionary and ‘outsider’ artists continues to grow, gallerist Henry Boxer, who represents more than 120 artists, presents some of the best UK artists in the field. See more at www.henryboxergallery.com.
Albert Louden (b 1943)
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Londoner Louden was born in Blackpool (where his family was evacuated in WWII) but soon returned to the East End after the war. When his father abandoned the family, at the age of 15 Louden left school with no qualifications and found work as a driver. He began creating art at the age of 19, working part-time to earn enough for materials and to keep himself. His work broadly falls into three categories: hallucinatory images of people; bold and simplified landscapes; and intense, painterly abstractions. His works sell for between £1,200 to £4,500.
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Madge Gill (1884-1961)
The visionary artist began creating intricate ink drawings after the death of her only daughter at birth in 1919, Gill herself then contracted an illness which left her blind in one eye. After being introduced to Spiritualism by an aunt, Gill’s work stemmed from attempts to contact her daughter and a son, who had died during the 1918 flu epidemic. Gill maintained she was guided by a spirit she called Myrninerest, often signing works in that name. As one of the UK’s premier outsider artists, her work – ranging from drawings on postcards to immense rolls of calico – sells in the region of £500 to £8,500.
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Scottie Wilson (1888-1972)
At the forefront of 20th-century outsider art, Scottie Wilson’s work was collected by the likes of Jean Dubuffet and Pablo Picasso. Born in London and brought up in Glasgow, Wilson left school at nine and had various careers, from selling newspapers to running a second-hand shop in Toronto after emigrating to Canada. His colourful and obsessively detailed artworks feature botanical forms, birds, animals and clowns (self-portraits), as well as ‘Greedies’ and ‘Evils’ (malignant personifications). When he returned to London in 1945, his work was embraced by the Surrealists and, during the 1960s, he was even commissioned by Royal Worcester to create designs for plates. Today his work can sell for £1,200 to £5,000.
Above Albert Louden (b.1943) Untitled, 1989, Image courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery Above right Scottie Wilson (1888-1972) Curiosity c.1938, ink and crayon. Image courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery Right Nick Blinko
(b.1961) Farce, 1982, ink. Image courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery Left Madge Gill (18841961) Untitled c.1945. ink on card. Image courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery Below right Albert
Untitled, pencil on paper. Image courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery
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Nick Blinko (b 1961)
A musician with British anarcho-punk bank, Rudimentary Penny, Blinko’s pen and ink drawings reveal microscopic and complex detailing, capturing images of faces, figures and iconography. While hospitalised after periods of psychic torment, Blinko found certain therapeutic drugs diminished the concentration required for his incredibly detailed work. His work can be seen in numerous museum and public exhibitions in the UK, France and the USA. His drawings can sell for between £800 to £5,000.
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Albert
During 13 years spent in a medium secure unit in a London psychiatric hospital, Albert began to draw mainly large charcoal or pencil drawings. His works depict recurrent themes of buildings, fences and other faceless structures reflecting the artist’s interior and exterior worlds. He has now left hospital and his works sell in the region of £800 to £3,500.
ALFRED WALLIS
Q&A
Kettle’s Yard’s curatorial assistant Eliza Spindel shares her love of Alfred Wallis
QA
Explain the appeal of Wallis’ art? He appeals to a wide variety of people on many different levels. To art historians, Wallis represents an important figure in the development of British modernism. But aside from his historical significance, it’s easy to fall in love with Wallis’ vivid evocation of the sea and the Cornish landscape. I think many viewers also feel an emotional connection with Wallis: the fact that he only began painting in his seventies with no formal training, to fend off the loneliness he felt after the death of his wife.
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Does his work divide opinion and, if so, how? Yes, Wallis’ status as an untrained artist can be polarising. He has traditionally been seen as ‘naïve’ – unaware of his talents and the artistic choices he was making. Many people now take issue with this view, believing Wallis to be more sophisticated and self-aware than he is given credit for.
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Where does he sit in the canon of ‘outsider artists’? As an untrained artist, Wallis was part of a growing interest in ‘outsider art’ during the early 20th century. Modern artists seeking new forms of expression found inspiration in these so-called ‘primitive’ and ‘naïve’ artists.
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What impact did the artistic milieu of St Ives have on Wallis? It’s difficult to say how much they impacted him. Wallis was probably aware of the artists and galleries in St Ives, and perhaps they inspired him to take up painting, but he seems to have made a point of never engaging with them.
‘Wallis remained relatively disinterested by his success. There is a famous story of Ben Nicholson showing Wallis a postcard of his work in MoMA and Wallis responding, unimpressed: “I’ve got one like that at home”’
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What influence did Wallis have on British modern art? When artists Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood first encountered Wallis’ work in 1928, they were particularly drawn to his fresh and instinctive approach, which ignored many of the formal rules of painting that they had been trying to shake off. They introduced his work to other avant-garde artists in London, and Wallis became an important inspiration for many of them. Was Wallis aware of his own artistic significance – how did he view it? Wallis seems to have been aware of his artistic success, but remained relatively disinterested in it. There is a famous story of Ben Nicholson showing Wallis a postcard of his work at MoMA, and Wallis responding, unimpressed: ‘I’ve got one like that at home’.
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Did his work evolve or was he ‘fully formed’ as soon as he started painting? It’s difficult to tell because Wallis never dated his works, so we can’t construct a secure chronology. He also kept returning to his favourite subjects over and over again. There are a few paintings that we know are later works, and some have suggested that these are more sophisticated and complex, implying that there was some technical development. Would you describe him as a maritime artist? Although Wallis’ work draws on his experiences as a mariner and fisherman, I wouldn’t describe him as a maritime artist in the traditional sense. Wallis painted from his memory or his imagination, so his works often capture feelings and atmospheres rather than real-life scenes. They feel universal and timeless. Wallis was very religious, so there are often spiritual elements too.
How significant is it that he had no formal artistic training? To his admirers, Wallis was special because he was ‘unspoilt’ by academic artistic training. Today, many people continue to be inspired by Wallis – the idea that it’s possible to make art without training or professional materials.
Q A
‘Wallis painted from memory or his imagination so his works capture feelings and atmospheres rather than real-life scenes’
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What is it about Wallis’ work that makes it so in demand today? Almost a century later, it continues to feel fresh and exciting. His style is instantly recognisable and, although it may seem simple at first, there is so much depth and richness in each painting. Spending time with this exhibition has allowed me to discover the many layers to Wallis’ work – I hope our visitors have too.
What are your favourite pictures in Kettle’s Yard exhibition and why? Ship with seven men, net and gull. To me, it’s Wallis at his best: conveying the movement and drama of hauling in the fishing nets, the rolling waves, the swirling rainclouds and seagulls circling above.
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 31
EXPERT COMMENT David Harvey
Waxing lyrical With antique fairs finally back on the horizon, David Harvey looks forward to a summer of events where he will present pieces from the Nicholas Parsons’ collection and a George III table
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e have now seen Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown and there are still a few hairpin bends and steep gradients to navigate but, after the last 12 months, the breath of hope this has given to the antiques trade is surely to be welcomed by all. From May, fairs will be making a comeback. As an established family business we started exhibiting at antiques fairs way back in the 1950s at a time when there were only a handful of such events throughout the country. I well remember my parents having a stand at the twiceyearly Chelsea Antiques Fair. While much has changed (the earlier 2021 events will of course see social distancing in place), the desire for dealers to share their collective knowledge and thick layer of bonhomie, will remain the same.
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Above Good to be back: David’s stand at the LAPADA Fair in 2014 Right Part of Nicholas Parsons’ collection
JUST A MINUTE Next month will see me at the four-day annual Buxton Antiques Fair from May 20-23. I did not hesitate, deviate or repeat when I was asked by Nicholas Parsons’ family to help dispose of the late star’s collection, part of which I hope to have on show at this event. Parsons was best known as the long-suffering chairman of BBC Radio 4’s panel game Just a Minute, which he presented since its inception in 1967 until 2019. He died after a short illness in 2020 aged 96. The legendary broadcaster’s collection comprised a number of different areas, as well as pieces of 18th and 19th-century metalware (illustrated). He had several pieces of 17th and 18th-century country and formal furniture, along with several hand coloured engravings. He first started collecting in the late 1950s and 1960s when he lived in Hampstead, London but his
passion continued when he moved out to just west of Burford and thence to Buckinghamshire to be closer to mainline railway connections. Fans of the time-based radio show Just a Minute, will be delighted to know he was also an avid connoisseur of clocks with an impressive knowledge of their workings. His enthusiasm for the finer things in life didn’t stop with items in his home but continued into his garage. He owned a succession of Alvis Motor cars, including a very dashing TE21 convertible, which was very much his pride and joy.
HARROGATE IN JUNE The following month, making the most of the Covid-19 restrictions being lifted, we head further west to The Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair in Harrogate which we first attended when the venerable Northern Antique Dealers’ Fair was held in the Royal Baths. One of the gems I intend to take is this rather good George III period mahogany tambour library table. The idea of a tambour writing table is simply that, if you were working on a document at your desk and someone entered the room, rather than scrabbling around to hide confidential papers or accounts from prying eyes, you would merely slide the tambour shut. In essence, it is a variation on a secretaire drawer in a chest or bookcase which fulfilled the same function.
Above The word tambour comes from the French word for drum Below left The George III tambour table dates to 1785
The word tambour comes from the French for drum, or a device for stretching fabric. In this case, backing adjoining strips of wood on canvas which were articulated to roll within a slot is what we know as a tambour or tambour slide. Early examples date from the 1770s and they became increasingly popular right through until the current period. The example shown here dates from about 1785 and typically has the square section legs terminating in spade feet which we see often during the George III period.
FREE STANDING The table has a very good panelled back which means it would have been free standing and intended to go in the centre of a library or drawing room rather than being a wall piece. It is a delight to see how smoothly the tambour still runs – even today. Once again a tribute to the quality of the materials used, as well as the skills of the cabinetmakers from that time. A piece of this calibre would not have been cheap to make and we can therefore assume it was commissioned by a wealthy merchant or similar. The table has a leather lined pull out writing slide and it was common practice over the centuries to replace the leather inset as it became worn or ink stained from regular use. David Harvey is the owner of W R Harvey & Co. Ltd., located at 86 Corn St, Witney, Oxfordshire. For more details go to www.wrharvey.com
‘The idea of a tambour writing table is simply that, if you were working on a document at your desk and someone entered the room, rather than scrabbling around to try and hide any confidential papers or accounts from prying eyes, you would merely slide the tambour down to shut your work away’
LAPADA PAVILION In July, we will be taking part in one of the new initiatives of 2021 – the LAPADA Pavilion which takes place at the Game Fair to be held at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. The event has moved from Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire to its new venue and I shall be taking a number of fine pieces to exhibit there. What a summer awaits – I hope to see you sometime.
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 33
EXPERT COMMENT Lennox Cato 2. 18TH CENTURY, C. 1780
LENNOX CATO
Without RESERVE Lennox Cato presents his version of the BBC Antiques Roadshow’s Basic, Better and Best with a piece of miniature furniture
Left No. 1. The veneered William and Mary chest of drawers is well made Above right No. 2. A twopiece mahogany chest on chest Below No. 3. Another
example of a miniature 18th-century chest on chest. But is it the best?
1
A
s a young dealer when I showed a recentlypurchased piece to one of my peers, I would receive either a straight “yes” or “no”. Very little haggling went on – unless it was a “no”, and you were then told why. So that was how I learnt – the hard way through my pocket. Back then, with limited access to information on antiques, it was the real life version of Basic, Better and Best. I have selected three excellent examples of miniature pieces of furniture. None were apprentice pieces, but made by top-quality cabinetmakers of the time and would have been used to show potential clients what a finished article would look like. Two of the chests are made of solid mahogany, while the other is veneered.
1. EARLY 18TH CENTURY, C. 1700 This piece is different from the following two, as it is veneered as opposed to solid wood. The chest of drawers is supported on solid, squat bun feet which emphasise the Dutch influence of the William and Mary period. The three, long drawers each have original peardrop handles, pressed back plates, cast escutcheons and steel locks. The drawers are framed with a D-shaped moulding which is also veneered. The drawers, as like the previous examples, are oak lined. The ends and top are oyster veneered in a pattern formation.
‘Each is an excellent example of miniature pieces, but there are still differences that can make one stand out from the other. Can you guess which is Basic, Better and Best?’ 34 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Here we have another solid mahogany chest on chest, but this one is made in two parts and is narrower in depth to the previous one. It retains a moulded cornice which sits 2 above two short drawers over three long, graduated drawers, all of which are oak lined with cock beaded drawer fronts. Once again, the drawers all retain the original circular brass ring handles with solid brass back plates. The escutcheons again are original but are more elaborately cast than the following example. The steel locks are also original, and all are in working order. The lower section of the chest has three long drawers over the original bracket feet.
3. 18TH CENTURY, C. 1780 The solid mahogany chest on chest (below) retains the original back boards, made of oak. The drawer linings are also oak which you would expect to find on an 18th-century piece. It also has fine dovetailing and the original brass penny ring handles with solid brass backplates. The locks on the drawers are all working and original. The upper section has a moulded cornice, below which are two small drawers over three long graduated drawers. The lower section has three long graduated drawers. Note how the sides all follow through, so the cabinetmaker wanted consistency when viewing from either angle. This one-piece chest on chest is supported on the original bracket feet. All in all, everything is original on this item which is something we all like to see in a piece of any size. Lennox Cato runs the Kent-based antiques dealership Lennox Cato Antiques as well as being a furniture specialist on Antiques Roadshow.
3
THE CONCLUSION
Basic: Number 3. This is ‘basic’, mainly because it is made in one piece. While there is as much detailing, the proportions are not quite as elegant. Better: Number 2. This two-section chest on chest has more detailing than the first. Its cock beaded drawer fronts and the escutcheons are more decorative, suggesting the maker took more time. Best: Number 1. The oyster veneering is rare and would command a higher value. Its quality suggests the workshop of Thomas Pistor of Ludgate Hill. The wood used is a very rare exotic timber called kingwood (also known as princes wood), which on this chest of drawers has been cut into oyster veneers. This is uncommon on miniature articles, as kingwood, due to its rarity, was a very expensive material and was only used on high value pieces.
J E W E L L E RY | WATC H E S | M A K E RS | D E S I G N S | C O L L E C T I N G
IN THE
Loupe This month’s special includes a guide to Cartier’s Tutti Frutti jewellery and what makes the iconic Patek Philippe ref. 2499 the world’s most sought-after watch
An emerald and diamond ring by Bulgari has an estimate of £180,000-£250,000 at Bonhams’ London jewels sale on April 18
‘Using fantastically-coloured Indian stones Cartier created a whole new style of jewellery showcasing the colour of the gemstones rather than their clarity or translucence’
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 35
IN THE
Loupe
In the
LOUPE
All the Raj T
With its brightly-coloured and striking carved gemstones, Cartier’s Tutti Frutti jewellery is perhaps one of the most recognisable jewellery designs of all time, writes Mark Littler
he history of Cartier’s Tutti Frutti – arguably the style most synonymous with the French jewellery house – dates back to the start of the 20th century, when Alexandra of Denmark commissioned Pierre Cartier to create a necklace inspired by Indian jewellery. The queen consort had been given some Indian gowns by Mary Victoria Curzon, the wife of the Viceroy of India, and required a necklace to wear with them. This necklace is thought to be the first piece of jewellery in the Tutti Frutti design. Unknown at the time, it was to spark a mutual love affair between the maison and India – a country whose tradition of jewellery stretched back more than three millennia and, with the spotlight afforded by the British Raj, was a rich vein that could be tapped not only for designs and forms, but also for stones.
VOYAGE OF ADVENTURE
Tutti Frutti style jewellery, once belonging to the late Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten, including a pair of gem-set and diamond brooches, ear clips and a 1930s jabot pin, has an estimate of £7,000-£9,000 at Sotheby’s upcoming sale; while a ruby, emerald and sapphire necklace has an estimate of £40,000-£60,000, image courtesy of Sotheby’s
36 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
In 1911, Jacques Cartier, Pierre’s brother, boarded the Polynesia and set sail on his first voyage to India. His trip coincided with a twoweek spectacle known as the Delhi Durbar, which celebrated the coronation of George V (Alexandra’s son) as Emperor of India. The purpose of the trip was two-fold: attracting new clients among the country’s jewel-obsessed elite and exploring the local gemstones and traditional techniques. As such, the Parisian jeweller soon sought out established gemstone merchants in Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi while considering the potential of the country’s precious gems cut in the imperial workshops of Rajasthan. Here, skilled Indian artisans used traditional techniques in relief cutting and hollowing out emeralds, sapphires and red spinels. And, as much as Cartier was enthralled by the country’s craftsmanship, Indian royalty was fascinated by the Parisian style. Soon Cartier had both the gem supply and a list of contacts of maharajahs across the subcontinent keen to remount their jewellery collections in the contemporary French way. With his new-found knowledge he returned to France, where he shared the stones with Louis Cartier and designer Charles Jacqueau. Together they abandoned the delicate swags and festoons of earlier decades and introduced bold colour and motifs from ancient cultures. Using fantastically-coloured Indian stones they created a whole new style of jewellery showcasing the depth of colour in the gemstones, rather than their clarity and translucency. This meant that Tutti Frutti jewels were, surprisingly, less expensive than other Cartier
Cartier’s tutti fruitti
Left A Tutti Frutti
bracelet by Mauboussin
Right Louis-François
Cartier
designs. The “foliage” design also broke with the fashion of the day. Carved gems in a riot of colours went against conventions of jewellery designs of the time, reigniting the Europeans’ taste for floral motifs. In the years that followed, Cartier created many beautiful Tutti Frutti pieces including brooches, cigarette cases, earrings, and bracelets. Diamonds, along with ruby, sapphire and emerald cabochons were set in floral designs, with a row of diamonds representing the traditional Indian Mughal art. Rubies and emeralds were interspersed with onyx berries set in platinum, as was customary at this time. A telltale zig-zag of black enamel, however, also became a signature element.
Did you know? It was only in the 1970s that the signature jewellery gained its name. In its heyday Tutti Frutti was referred to as “pierres de couleur” or “Hindou jewels”.
The firm was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier (1819-1904) and was subsequently taken over by his three grandsons: Louis (1875- 1942), Pierre (1878-1965) and Jacques (1884-1942) who each took responsibility for the development of the firm’s operations in Paris, New York and London. The business was built up and consolidated by creating relationships with a host of important clients including European and international royalty, wealthy American financiers and industrialists, film stars and VIPs. The great strength of Cartier was the firm’s ability to introduce a wide range of inspirations and themes into its jewellery designs, particularly during the years between the two world wars.
TUTTI FRUTTI AND COSTUME JEWELLERY
RISE IN TUTTI FRUTTI After being exhibited at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, Tutti Frutti jewels rapidly gained popularity among the most fashionable and discerning collectors of the day, including Mrs Cole Porter. The popularity of the style grew throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1936, fashion icon and socialite Daisy Fellowes (1890-1962), who was the daughter of Duke Decazes and sewing machine heiress, Isabelle Singer, commissioned a large and stunning “Hindu” necklace, embellished with leaves of ruby, emerald and sapphire. She most famously wore the extraordinary necklace to what was hailed as the “ball of the century”, hosted by Carlos de Beistegui at Venice’s Palazzo Labia in 1951. The necklace was known as the Collier Hindou, and is perhaps the most famous example of Tutti Frutti. After Daisy Fellowes’s death, the necklace passed to her eldest daughter, the Comtesse de Castéja, who took it back to Cartier to be altered in 1963. In 1991, five years after the death of Castéja, the spectacular necklace, along with a pair of carved emerald and diamond earrings, sold at Sotheby’s Geneva for $2,655,172, a new record for art deco jewellery.
CARTIER A BRIEF HISTORY
Many costume jewellery designers were also inspired by Cartier, and began producing more affordable Tutti Frutti inspired jewels. These pieces often featured synthetic gems and paste. Alfred Philippe for Trifari was a well-known maker, whose pieces have now become highly collectible. Philippe had experience in designing for Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels before joining Trifari. As such, his designs exuded an air of luxury that was desirable, while his use of synthetic gems and diamantes made the jewellery more affordable. Trifari became popular very quickly, as did other costume jewellery makers such as Jacques Hobé, Albert Weiss, and Marcel Boucher.
Right A Tutti Frutti
ring by Cartier, taken from Celebrating Jewellery published by ACC Art Books
‘As much as Cartier was enthralled by the country’s craftsmanship, Indian royalty was fascinated by the Parisian style. Soon Cartier had both the gem supply and a list of contacts of maharajahs across the subcontinent’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 37
IN THE
Loupe TUTTI FRUTTI INSPIRED
FAKES AND ATTRIBUTIONS Cartier’s Tutti Frutti designs have been imitated and replicated many times over the years, meaning that it is important to be diligent when buying any Cartier attributed pieces. A very well-made, diamond and multi-gem piece from the end of the 1930s using high-quality gems, is just as collectable as an earlier piece by Cartier, as long as it is being sold for what it is. Problems may arise from incorrect attributions as many of these art deco jewels are unsigned and therefore it is always tempting to make an assumption and attribute it to one of the biggest jewellery houses. Unfortunately, a lot of these period pieces were later engraved or signed ‘Cartier’, but weren’t, in fact, made by the French jewellery house. A Tutti Frutti brooch by Cartier, taken from Celebrating Jewellery published by ACC Art Books
Top left Tutti Frutti
style pieces on sale at Sotheby’s which once belonged to the late Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten, the last Vicereine of India, image courtesy of Sotheby’s
The lasting influence of Cartier’s Tutti Frutti jewellery can be seen in designs by many other jewellers who took inspiration from Cartier throughout the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s. One such designer is the American jeweller, Paul Flato (19001999), a master of art deco jewellery whose clients included Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, and Katherine Hepburn. Flato, who was working in New York as Tutti Frutti became popular, was known for his flamboyant designs. His Tutti Frutti-inspired pieces feature brightly-coloured, carved gemstones in abstract shapes or flowers, which he referred to not as ‘floral’ but ‘wiggly jewels’. Another designer influenced by Tutti Frutti was Seaman Schepps. Born in New York City in 1881, Schepps created an eponymous jewellery house and, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rockefellers and the Duchess of Windsor among his clients soon became known known as “America’s Court Jeweller”. His bold designs included “fruit salad” pieces featuring striking carved jewels in juxtaposing colour combinations. Schepps’ fruit salad jewels were revered throughout the 1940s and 1950s for their playfulness and use of transparency and colour. Designers such as Raymond Yard, Mauboussin, and Boucheron were also inspired by Cartier’s Tutti Frutti. Pieces by these jewellers are very desirable and command high premiums at auction. In 2019, Cartier created the Maharajah necklace, which is set in accordance with ancient Indian jewellery-making techniques. Top An art deco bracelet, c. 1930, by
the American jeweller Paul Flato
Above Advertisement in Ladies’ Home Journal, 1948, with the model wearing jewels by Seaman Schepps
‘Seaman Schepps’ bold designs included “fruit salad” pieces featuring carved jewels in juxtoposing colours. His fruit salad jewels were revered throughout the 1940s and 1950s for their playfulness and colour’ 38 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Iconic watches
Dialling up Next month four Patek Philippe ref. 2499 watches go under the hammer in Geneva, representing some of the rarest watches ever made
W
hen it comes to the ‘holy grail’ of watches, few timepieces come as close to the Patek Philippe ref. 2499 – widely considered to be one of the most remarkable wristwatches ever designed by the Swiss maker. With only 349 units produced in history – an average of nine pieces per year – they are the hen’s teeth of watch collecting. So when four, each from the different series, comes to market, it’s a champagne corking moment for the world’s elite timepiece aficionados. Auctioneer Phillips’ Aurel Bacs, said: “The ref. 2499, in any dial or case combination, is considered one of, if not the most iconic and desirable trophy watches to crown any collection. With only 349 known examples, it is on the same level as a Jackson Pollock painting or a vintage Ferrari sports car.”
Above Four Patek Philippe ref. 2499 watches from series 1, 3 and 4 (in 18ct yellow gold) and series 2 (in 18ct pink gold) all go under the hammer in Geneva next month, image courtesy of Phillips Right The Patek Philippe
Supercomplication sold for £15.3m in 2014, image courtesy of Sotheby’s
PATEK PHILIPPE: A HISTORY The firm was founded in 1839 by Polish émigré Antoni Norbert Patek. After a false start with a fellow Pole, Franciszek Czapek, he went into business with Philippe, a rising young and talented watchmaker. As far back as the 19th century, Patek Philippe was seen as special – Queen Victoria bought one for herself and another for her husband. In 1897, King Rama V of Siam purchased no fewer than 56 watches, all destined for use by the royal family. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Tsar tried to entrust Patek Philippe with manufacture of all watches for his court. And by the early 1930s, Patek had cemented its reputation as the king of complications with the creation of the Graves Supercomplication, a massive multifunction pocket watch for New York banker Henry Graves. When it sold in 2014 it fetched over £15.3m.
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 39
IN THE
Loupe Who wears them? In 2012, Christie’s auctioned Eric Clapton’s Patek Philippe ref. 2499 in platinum, considered by collectors to be the “holiest of holy grail” watches. Clapton’s watch is extra special because it’s one of only two made in platinum. Originally ordered for the personal collection of brand owner Phillppe Stern, the other example now resides in Patek Philippe’s watch museum in Geneva. The watch from the famed guitarist and songwriter (nicknamed ‘slowhand’) has 23 jewels, a silver matt dial, applied gold baton and square numerals, gold dauphine hands, outer Arabic five minute divisions, windows for day and month, three subsidiary dials for constant seconds, 30 minutes register and moon phases with date, circular case, stepped down-turned lugs, and snap on back. It eventually went for $3.6m, with none of the value attributed to Clapton being the previous owner.
The ref. 2499 set the blue print for perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatches some 40 or so years before this complication was made on a regular basis by other brands, making this reference one of, if not, the most influential and relevant horological references of the second half of the 20th century.
REF. 2499 First offered by Patek Philippe from 1950 to 1985, despite the length of production, only 349 pieces were produced with only four major transformations during the course of its 35-year production run. It was Patek’s first post-war perpetual calendar with chronograph and moon face. The first series, created between 1950 and 1960, features square chronograph pushers and tachometer scale. Subsequently, the second generation, manufactured from 1955 to 1966, displays round chronograph pushers. And with the third series,
PATEK PHILIPPE & SCARCITY It’s said that less than one million Patek Philippe watches have been made since 1839. That’s fewer than some high-end Swiss manufacturers produce in a year. Patek Philippe production is so detailed that it takes nine months to make its most basic watches, and more than two years to produce some of the more complicated timepieces. Meanwhile, demand is growing around the world. Some Patek Philippe watches are so sought after that buyers must submit to an application process in order to demonstrate that they are sufficiently highcalibre collectors.
40 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Above Patek Philippe ref. 2499 3rd series in 18ct gold, image courtesy of Phillips Right Clapton’s ref.
2499 sold for $3.6m in 2012, image courtesy of Christie’s
Far right Watch collector Eric ‘slowhand’ Clapton
distributed between 1960 and 1978, Patek Philippe elevated the watch face to showcase a simple dial design. Finally, between 1978 and 1984, Patek Philippe presented the fourth generation, the so-called 2499/100 – which incorporated round chronograph pushers, applied baton numerals, an outer seconds division and a sapphire crystal.
ONES TO WATCH The four watches on sale at Phillips Geneva on May 8-9 include the rare, earlier 1st and 2nd series models, with the former (purchased in 2008) only one of 23 examples in yellow gold with its Wenger case. The 2nd series is one of the equally rare examples in pink gold, of which only nine examples are known. The watch was purchased in the early 1960s in the north of Germany and remained in the same family until 2010 when it was offered at auction for the first time. The current owner purchased it directly from the buyer at that auction, so this is a “three-owners-since-new” watch. It is highly unusual but perfectly appropriate that the watch comes with a German calendar. The 3rd series last appeared on the market in 2004 and is one of the earliest examples known. It stands out with its full hard enamel dial, a feature that was fading
Watches out in the late 1960s and that collectors immensely appreciate today. The 4th series is from 1985, the last year of production for this reference, and features a rather unusual German calendar (matching with the fact that the watch sold originally in Germany). It is only one of six examples known of this series with German calendar.
Patek Philippes to buy today After a more affordable Patek Philippe? Try these, writes Natasha Davis, watch specialist with Fellows auctioneers
Phillips’ Geneva Watch Auction Part I is on May 8 with Part II on May 9. For more details go to www.phillips.com
What they sell for: Not surprisingly, the ref. 2499 comes to market infrequently and when it does achieves a huge amount. Sotheby’s sold a double-signed 2499 (with Asprey) for £3m in 2018 , while at Christie’s another double-signed 2499 fetched £2.6m. The Asprey piece was one of the first series, and is thought to be the only one in that series with the Asprey signature. The reference is widely sought after for its large diameter case for the period: 37.6mm.
‘Some Patek Philippe watches are so sought-after buyers must submit to an application process to demonstrate they are sufficiently high-calibre’
Above right The Patek Philippe ref 5056 Right How about a
classic Patek Calatrava dress watch?
Left Patek Philippe ref. 2499 1st series in 18ct gold, one of the watches on sale next month, image courtesy of Phillips
While the Patek Philippe ref. 2499 is considered by many to the be ‘holy grail’ of watch collecting for those on a more limited budget other options are available. The Patek ref. 3970 is incredibly similar in dial and concept to the ref. 2499. The successor to the ref. 2499, it’s also a manual-wind perpetual calendar chronograph watch but was produced in a smaller case size and with the newer Lemania movement – compared to the Valjoux used by its predecessor. Auction prices for these vary, and can depend on which series is being offered. The ref. 5056 also possesses the classic look and beautiful symmetry that Patek complications are renowned for. Although a discontinued model, it appears more modern in aesthetic than the ref. 2499. It functions as an automatic annual calendar moon-phase watch, with a discreet power-reserve indicator at the top of the dial. Although not possessing the complications of the ref. 2499, the classic Patek Calatrava dress watch has a rich and varied history, having been introduced to the world in the 1930s and still going strong today. Produced predominantly in precious metals with both manual wind and automatic calibres, as well as in a variety of styles, collectors can look to spent from tens of thousands on rarer models to £5,000-£7,000 on more classic designs.
Fellows’ next luxury watch sale is on April 19 ANTIQUE COLLECTING 41
IN THE
Loupe
THE ONLY WAY IS
ESSEX
Jovial, colourful and entirely unique, Victorian reverse carved intaglio jewellery, also known as ‘Essex crystal’, is hot property, writes Liz Bailey
T
he colloquially termed ‘Essex crystal,’ or reverse carved intaglio, is an intricate, fascinating, and eye-catching aspect of jewellery that never fails to put a smile on your face! Reverse carved intaglios emerged around 1860, in the ‘high’ Victorian era, a time of increased prosperity and, subsequently, demand for jewels. Peter Hinks in his book Nineteenth Century Jewellery observes that “a new adventurousness in the treatment of gems” was very much present in the 1860s and 1870s, with reverse carved intaglios one of the most adventurous.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Above left A lateVictorian Essex crystal brooch depicting a vase overflowing with flowers Below right A late-
Victorian Essex crystal locket, depicting a lily of the valley with red ribbon accent. Sold for £2,013, image Wilson55
Below A late-Victorian
Essex crystal pendant, the oval reverse carved intaglio depicting a stork wading in bullrushes, within a cannetille border and with brooch surmount, image courtesy of Wilson55
The moniker ‘Essex crystal’ has nothing to do with the UK county but, in fact, comes from celebrated English enamel painter William Essex (1784-1869). This widelyused term is somewhat misleading, as Essex himself had no connection to reverse carved intaglios. Essex was appointed Royal enameller to Queen Victoria in 1839, with his work based on copies of old master compositions, as well as striking compositions in miniature. It is this skill in miniature that accounts for the misnomer, with the terms widely used interchangeably today in the trade and in literature.
THOMAS COOKE Rather than Essex, it is the Belgian artist Emile Marius Pradier who is largely credited with introducing the technique with his pieces that are among the only reverse carved
‘The moniker ‘Essex crystal’ has nothing to do with the UK county but, in fact, comes from celebrated English enamel painter William Essex (1784-1869)’ 42 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
intaglios to be signed. In England, it was Thomas Cooke – not Essex – who really developed the art of the reverse carved intaglio, creating pieces that were retailed by Lambert & Co. of London (the association to Essex likely only emerged because his work in miniature enamelling was so prevalent at the time). Other artisans followed, as the technique took hold. Cooke trained an apprentice Thomas Bean, who then went on to train his son and grandson. However, William Bishop Ford (1832-1922) was a student of Essex and created well known enamelled miniatures set in jewellery such as stick pins during the late 1800s; particularly an image of a fox head, which was also a
VICTORIAN THEMES Many reverse carved intaglio pendants reflected the Victorian trend for floriography, representing sentimental and hidden messages through the choice of flower. The lily of the valley in this intaglio was said to represent ‘a return to happiness.’ The late-Victorian reverse carved intaglio earrings (opposite) feature striking ‘spool’ or ‘bobbin’ surmounts and were highly typical of 1860s when hairstyles of the day allowed ladies’ earlobes to be exposed. The floriography is also typically sentimental of the time, with forget-me-nots hugely popular in turquoise, diamond and enamel set pieces also, signifying remembrance and eternal love. Monograms, birds and insects were also popular themes, as well as butterflies. The motifs most commonly found for men were sporting themes – horses, dogs, foxes and birds. These intaglios are among the most commonly seen at auction, with an enduring appeal and a large collectors base that ensure great hammer prices.
Reversed intaglio jewellery SPOTTING QUALITY
Towards the later years of their popularity, in the 1920s and ‘30s, the market was flooded with cheap imitations, modelled in glass and even plastics. The ability to distinguish these fine crystals from those of lesser quality requires a trained eye and a jeweller’s loupe. Checking from the side, look for the depth of the carving and the minute detail of the painting. The backing is another good way of dating a piece. The backing on the early crystals was gold foil, followed by etched mother-of-pearl and finally plain mother-of-pearl.
popular motif in Essex crystal pieces; possibly helping to perpetuate the myth surrounding his master’s involvement with the craft. The Austrian jeweller Ernst Paltscho (1858-1929), best-known for his colourful art deco jardiniere brooches shows the prevalence of the reverse carved intaglio through Europe by the early 20th century. Depicting a capercaillie, the heaviest member of the grouse family, this is a typical sporting motif seen in stick pins of the time.
THE PROCESS Reverse carved intaglios are created through a meticulous process. Using steel tools, the artisan carves deeply into the back of a rock crystal cabochon in reverse. The carving is then painted, sometimes with brushes only a single hairs width and typically sealed with a mother of pearl backing. As a result, the image appears floating within the cabochon when viewed from the front.
IN DEMAND Pieces of reverse carved intaglio jewellery were wildly fashionable, with items for both ladies and gentlemen produced. For the gents, buttons, tiepins, cufflinks and stick pins were created, as well as brooches, pendants and earrings for the ladies. Popular subjects included horses (both in hunting and racing scenes), dogs, flowers, game birds and monograms, although rare and sought-after unusual subjects including cats, exotic animals and even penguins have soared at auction! A typical subject of the reverse carved intaglio, this pleasant and natural scene of a stork in bullrushes (left) is framed by a wonderful oval shape surround, decorated with cannetille decoration. A typical surround for high Victorian jewellery, the cannetille and wirework decoration draws inspiration from Ancient Greek jewels.
Above left A lateVictorian Essex crystal brooch, depicting a bullfinch and a goldfinch. Sold for £732, image courtesy of Wilson55 Right A pair of late-
Victorian Essex crystal earrings, depicting forget-me-nots with red ribbon accent. Sold for £1,342, image courtesy of Wilson55
Below right An early
20th-century reverse carved intaglio stickpin, by Ernst Paltscho (1858-1929), depicting a capercaillie. Sold for £293, image courtesy of Wilson55
Liz Bailey MA FGA DGA is the jewellery and watches specialist at the Nantwich-based auction house Wilson55. For more details go to www.wilson55.com or email liz@wilson55.com
FALL AND RISE The art of reverse carved intaglios retained its appeal up until the First World War, but following this the output of such jewellery was scarce. Indeed, there were no commissions for reverse carved intaglio pieces, with examples on the secondary market only visible from that fifty-year window of time. However, in modern times it has enjoyed a slight revival, largely thanks to LA-based celebrity jeweller Irene Neuwirth. Neuwirth sets custom and hand-painted intaglios of her clients’ pets into fine jewellery, with one of her most famous commissions worn by Jennifer Aniston in 2019. ANTIQUE COLLECTING 43
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ANTIQUE COLLECTING 45
COLLECTING GUIDES The Memphis group
46 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Plastic Fantastic
Famously described as “a shotgun wedding between Bauhaus and FisherPrice”, a new exhibition reveals there’s more to the Memphis group than a blast of colour and plastic
M
emphis design defined a generation and even set the look of 1980s fashion, music, film and architecture. Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld furnished his entire apartment in Monte Carlo with the collection; David Bowie amassed a large collection including the work of 19 designers which were sold in Sotheby’s Bowie Collector sale in 2016. Bowie said of the designs: “Each piece of furniture offered a plethora of possibilities, options and inconclusive ends. It sucked on the breath of pop culture with gusto and an enthusiasm that was delightful to witness.” Memphis group’s work is still produced and collected today and with the rise of maximalism, which many trace back to the rule-breaking group, is enjoying a renaissance.
EARLY DAYS The group was forged in a smoked-filled Milan apartment on the evening of December 11, 1980. The flat’s owner was the Austrian-born, Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass (1917- 2007) and, while he was in his sixties, the room buzzed with a group of twenty-something designers looking for a new direction of form and function.
Opposite Emerald by
Nathalie Du Pasquier (b. 1957), 1985. Memphis Milano Collection. Sideboard in wood and plastic laminate, photo Roberto Gennari. Courtesy Memphis Srl
Top right Carlton by Ettore Sottsass (19172007), 1981. Memphis Milano collection, photo Pariano Angelantonio. Courtesy Memphis Srl.
The Carlton cabinet
The Carlton cabinet is one of Sottsass’s most iconic designs. It is characterised by its combination of anthropomorphic silhouette, totemic profile, bold colours and cheap materials – medium-density fibreboard (MDF) – and plastic laminate. Combining a room divider, a sideboard and a bookcase, its configuration of partitions and voids appear haphazard but has a rational structure of equilateral triangles supporting the shelves. The Carlton immediately became a design icon, entering the collections of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, as well as the personal collections of Karl Lagerfeld, then creative director of Chanel, and David Bowie. Bowie said of the piece: “Even now, the jolt, the impact, created by walking into a room containing a cabinet by Memphis … is visceral. It’s true that you can’t put another piece of furniture within the same space. There is just no aesthetic room.”
Bottom right Tahiti by Ettore Sottsass (19172007) 1981, Memphis Milano Collection, table lamp, photo Pariano Angelantonio. Courtesy Memphis Srl Below Memphis Post Design Gallery installation, photo Luca Miserocchi. Courtesy Memphis Srl
‘Memphis was a two-fold reference to the ancient capital of the Egyptian pharaohs and the birthplace of Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley in Tennessee. Ancient and contemporary, sacred and pop, high and low art’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 47
COLLECTING GUIDES The Memphis group
The Plaza The Plaza vanity was one of the few pieces designed by the American architect and designer Michael Graves (1934-2015) for Memphis’s first collection, but immediately became one of the collective’s most famous designs. His work is distinct from other Memphis pieces, with influences drawn from art deco and old Hollywood glamour. Named after the famous Plaza Hotel in New York, Graves’s design presents the profile of a characteristic Manhattan skyscraper, with small lights suggestive of a starry night. Like many other Memphis designs, the Plaza evokes luxury and affluence, yet its materials consist of cheap mediumdensity fibreboard (MDF) coated in maple veneer, paint and mirror plating.
Right D’Antibes by
George J. Sowden (b. 1942), 1981. Memphis Milano Collection. Cabinet in lacquered wood, photo Pariano Angelantonio. Courtesy Memphis Srl
Left Plaza by Michaal Graves (1934-2015), 1981. Memphis Milano Collection. Dressing table in briar, photo Aldo Ballo, Guido Cegani, Peter Ogilvie. Courtesy Memphis Srl Below right Karl
Lagerfeld in his Monte Carlo apartment. Pierre table by Sowden, Riviera chair by De Lucchi, Treetops lamp. From the book Memphis, Research, Experience, Results, Failures and Successes of the New Design by Barbara Radice
people and the impact was immediate and international. It also attracted unprecedented media coverage, suddenly making furniture and product design as newsworthy as couture fashion. Sottsass himself was snapped with his youthful team of international designers behind the ropes of a boxing ring-inspired bed – the Tawaraya by Masanori Umeda (b. 1941). Named after a luxury hotel in Kyoto, the bed was one of the most iconic designs from Memphis’s first collection.
MEMPHIS HEYDAY Amid the wine and chat, they were listening to Bob Dylan’s Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, and the group found its name – a two-fold reference to the ancient capital of the Egyptian pharaohs and the birthplace of Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley in Tennessee. Ancient and contemporary, sacred and pop, high and low art. While simultaneously both serious, in its short lifetime, the group went on to cause a sensation, breaking the codes of 20th-century modernism and challenging ideas of good taste. Its influence became a key feature in the decade’s design, fashion, architecture, music and film.
FIRST SHOW The group’s first exhibition in Milan on September 18, 1981, included 55 items and was called Memphis, The New International Style. Under the artistic direction of Barbara Radice, it challenged the early 20th-century’s international style epitomised by Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the Bauhaus. The opening was attended by over 2,500
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In addition to Italians and expatriates gathered in Milan, Sottsass invited international designers to contribute. In total, 56 designers participated in the Memphis project, including eight from the UK. Design described as
MEMPHIS GROUP Big Sur by Peter Shire, (b. 1947), 1986. Memphis Milano Collection, sofa, photo Roberto Gennari. Courtesy Memphis Srl
‘postmodern’ came to represent the era of free-market capitalism of the decade. Memphis spokesperson Barbara Radice describes the group’s irreverent approach to materials as the “unexpected marriage” of “precious and non-precious, like wood, plastics, lacquers, brass, mirrors, aluminium, and fabrics, and the overlapping of rough and smooth, soft texture and sharp edges, plain and patterned surfaces, acid colours and pastel shades... like numerous tiny electric discharges,” in order to “turn a piece of furniture into a complex system of communication.” Memphis furniture was characterised by the group’s use of plastic laminate (a plastic made from layers of paper, wood or fabric, compressed and bonded together with resin). Until then, laminate was used for functional applications like on kitchen worktops. Memphis embellished this basic, low-priced material with bold pattern and colour and made a feature of it.
INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES Memphis designs stem from a wide-ranging mix of cultural references. Nathalie Du Pasquier’s (b. 1957) textiles were inspired by African fabrics following her travels to the continent as a young women. Sottsass had also travelled widely and was strongly affected by structures and philosophies found across the world, from Indian traditions to American pop culture. The Ashoka lamp designed by Sottsass for Memphis’s first collection, was inspired by his journey to India in the early 1960s and named after an ancient Indian emperor. As early as 1985, Sottsass began to distance himself from the group. He said: “It’s like a love story. When you get used to it, you have to quit.” The year signalled a significant shift in the collective’s style. In the words of Barbara Radice, Memphis’s artistic director, “The 1985 exhibition evokes smoke-filled urban atmospheres, the streets of Blade Runner or a post-nuclear hero roaming scorched landscapes. By breaking all the rules, the group created an exciting new sense of freedom where everyday objects could create revolutions in style taste and design.” Due to Covid-19 restrictions and the gallery’s closure, the exhibition Memphis: Plastic Field at the MK Gallery, Milton Keynes has been extended until September (exact dates to be confirmed). For more details go to www.mkgallery.org
Q&A
We asked Joy McCall, Lyon and Turnbull’s senior specialist in decorative arts and design for her insights into the Memphis group
QA
How influential was the movement? Memphis was one of the most influential movements of the late 20th century and the most significant expression of post-modernism – even though it only existed for a short period of time, namely 1981-1987. It was an international collective of Europeans and Americans, and also included two Japanese designers - Shiro Kuramata and Masanori Umeda; but its reach was global. If you wanted to summarise the aesthetic of the 1980s you only need to look at the work of the Memphis group. The range of items they produced was broad and encompassed furniture, lighting, ceramics, glass, carpets, textiles, table wares and jewellery. Their influence impacted fashion (Esprit shops were designed by Ettore Sottsass and the clothes reflected the style too), film (Back to the Future II – the future looks very Memphis in ethos) and television (apparent in the visual presentation of MTV). What Memphis achieved was the culmination of a break with modernism. They were preceded by Pop and Radical Design, but Memphis was a turning point. After that, other designers gained confidence to question everything and to imagine infinite new possibilities.
QA
Which of the group is broadly considered to be the most talented? The majority of people, if asked, would say Ettore Sottsass, because he had such a varied career that extended over 60 years. Memphis represented just a brief moment in his illustrious career. He was a man who constantly reinvented himself. In an upcoming sale we are offering an oil on canvas painting by him from about 1950. It is representative of a period when he was involved with Spazialismo, a movement founded by the renowned artist Lucio Fontana. Fontana believed that art should embrace science and technology and where possible include a spatial dimension, as well as colour, movement and sound.
Right Memphis Post Design
Gallery installation, photo Luca Miserocchi. Courtesy Memphis Srl
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 49
COLLECTING GUIDES The Memphis group x
an intentional engagement of the senses. Memphis design was intended to stimulate emotions and its works do indeed convey a spirit of happiness and pleasure with a degree of humour thrown in.
Q A
Above Burundi by Nathalie Du Pasquier, 1981. Memphis Milano Collection, photo Aldo Ballo, Guido Cegani, Peter Ogilvie. Courtesy Memphis Srl
Sottsass was hired by Olivetti in 1956 as a design consultant. In 1969, with Perry King, he created the Valentine portable typewriter. An example owned by David Bowie realised £45,000 when offered for sale in 2016. Sottsass’s influence on this design icon has been likened to the impact Steve Jobs had at Apple in grasping the importance of product presentation. Here, Sottsass sheathed the typewriter in red and named it ‘Valentine’. It proved to be a winning formula, with David Bowie even choosing to write his lyrics on his Valentine. Sottsass not only founded Memphis – he was the designer who held the group together. Previously, he had been involved with Studio Alchimia alongside Alessandro Mendini (the other leading anti-design exponent) but then left to form Memphis. Yet when he felt that Memphis was attracting too much media attention, he chose to leave the group in 1985 to refocus on his architectural practice.
Q A
The famous description of Memphis being ‘Bauhaus meets Fisher Price’how true is that? It is fair if you view Memphis design from a purely visual perspective. Memphis design can be characterised by naively constructed forms with illogical proportions, arrangements and use of unexpected materials. However, this statement fails to understand the philosophy and motivation behind the work. Memphis was about rejecting the principles and values held by Modernism in favour of an exploration of new possibilities and
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Which of the designers’ work is the most sought-after today? Based on prices achieved at auction the answer has to be between Ettore Sottsass and the Japanese designer Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991). Sottsass’s top price of £68,750 was realised for a Casablanca sideboard designed in 1981 and offered as part of the David Bowie sale in 2016. However, Kuramata’s designs have steadily realised more than this, though not all of the works he produced during this period came directly under the Memphis umbrella. The record for a work by him is €361,500 for the Homage to Josef Hoffmann chair sold in 2014.
Q A
What would be the holy grail Memphis piece? Most of the rarest pieces of Memphis design are now in museums, so it is perhaps more realistic to think about obtaining some of the most iconic pieces of Memphis design instead. The Carlton room divider designed in 1981 is perhaps the most widely recognised piece with its plastic-laminate surfaces, its seemingly random combination of brightlycoloured elements and its defiant rejection of expected forms. It no longer assumes that the composition should be assembled from verticals and horizontals, rather angles are introduced in many of the components. It also rather defies definition because this could be a bookcase, a sideboard or a room divider – whatever it is, it is question-provoking. The other well-known piece of Memphis design is the Boxing Ring Tawaraya Seating Area designed by Masanori Umeda; which featured in the famous photograph of 1981 that included most of the leading designers at the opening of their first exhibition in Milan. It has four intended functions – a shrine, a platform, a conversation area and a bed. It signified a fusion between the East and the West and took its name from a luxury hotel in Kyoto.
‘Sottass sheathed the typewriter in red and named it ‘Valentine’, it was a winning formula, with David Bowie choosing to write his lyrics on it’
Q A
Are they collectors’ pieces or used for their design potential? Memphis pieces are not common. They were not generally mass-produced; but they crafted works not industrial pieces, because they were intricate and complex in design. Many pieces are now in museum collections so can be seen but not acquired. In my experience there have been people who collected Memphis but now buyers tend to be looking for a statement piece because it is both fun and perhaps still feels slightly quirky.
QA
Will they stand the test of time? They have already! If they hadn’t we wouldn’t still be talking about them four decades later. Memphis has been the subject of popular museum exhibitions and the influence of these designers lives on, as fashion revisits the 1980s. The Memphis designers released creativity from the implicit rules handed down by Modernism and permitted a future generation to think outside the box, understanding that there really aren’t any rules and encouraging them to imagine new possibilities.
QA
Have you got a favourite designer? I like Nathalie du Pasquier’s Riveria carpet, designed in 1983 and worked in hand-knotted wool. It evokes memories of hot sunny days spent cheerfully relaxing with friends and family by a pool, on a beach or open-water swimming somewhere.
Lyon and Turnbull’s auction Modern Made: Modern British & Post-War Art, which includes several pieces by the Memphis group, takes place at Mall Galleries, London on April 30. For more details go to www. lyonandturnbull.com Below Kristall by Michele De Lucchi, 1981.
Memphis Milano Collection, table in plastic laminate, photo Pariano Angelantonio. Courtesy Memphis Srl
The Annie Marchant Collection Over 600 lots of Domestic and Country Antiques Including The Remaining Stock of Wenderton Antiques 12th and 13th April at 10 a.m. each day *Live Online Auction Only* Register and Bid on our Free In-House Bid Platform Please Contact Cliona Kilroy or Justin Ball on 01227 763337 Fully Illustrated Catalogue available £10 (including postage) or View Online at
www.thecanterburyauctiongalleries.com
40 Station Road West Canterbury Kent CT2 8AN
ANTIQUES UNDER THE HAMMER Kitchenalia
SALEROOM SPOTLIGHT An unparalled collection of kitchenalia is up for sale this month and, with low estimates starting at £60, it’s a perfect opportunity to cook up a storm
D
uring her early days of collecting and dealing among the regulars at Bermondsey market, she was known as “breadboard Annie”. And, although she hated the term kitchenalia, Annie Marchant went on to become its queen. Following her untimely death on January 9, 2020, her personal collection of more than 300 items found a new home at the Jacobean Kiplin Hall in Yorkshire. But this month, from April 12-13, her remaining stock will be sold in a two-day sale at Canterbury Auction Galleries. Top Dairy antiques and
collectables are a feature of this month’s online sale
Top right Three late 18th-century rushlight holders and candle socket, have an estimate of £150-£200 Above Annie Marchant, queen of kitchenalia Left An early 20thcentury cast iron and oak Kent’s Knife Cleaner, has an estimate of £60-£80 Right Four 19th-century goffering irons have an estimate of £150-£200
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Made up of some 600 lots these were the objects Annie loved, and found it hard to sell. Instead she loaned them out as film and TV props with Victoria Wood using them on the set of her soap opera parody, Acorn Antiques. As one of her acquaintances put it, Annie collected anything and everything connected to the “un-fitted kitchen”. The breadth and depth of the collection is enormous. Aside from the scrubbed pine furniture, old shop photographs and advertising memorabilia, it contains multiple examples of every implement known to the “Downton Abbey cook” and housekeeper.
VICTORIAN KITCHEN Annie Marchant (1951-2020) was the only child of Betty and John Marchant, a hop grower, arable farmer and agricultural auctioneer who farmed in Wingham and Ash, Kent. She loved clothes and fashion, and moved to London in the ‘70s, where she trained as a buyer at Peter Robinson’s department store in Oxford Street. Her boyfriend at the time ran an antiques shop in Camden which introduced her to collecting and, soon, she had her own stand at Bermondsey, later exhibiting at antique fairs in Covent Garden, Bath, Brighton, Harrogate and Olympia, concentrating solely on kitchen and dairy antiques.
‘Her kitchen was transformed back to the Victorian era with scrubbed pine tables and chairs, no electric kettle or microwave, with just the tick of the clock and candlelight setting the scene’
When her father died in 1985, and her mother two years later, Annie moved back to the family home, Wenderton, near Canterbury – a large farmhouse that was perfect for showcasing her large collection. Her kitchen was transformed back to the Victorian era with scrubbed pine tables and chairs, and no electric kettle or microwave, with just the tick of the clock and candlelight setting the scene.
JELLY MOULDS TO RUSH LIGHTS Hundreds of carved wooden chopping boards in this month’s sales are accompanied by an endless list of traditional kitchen implements, including egg beaters, timers and weighers, saucepans, cast-iron coffee grinders, knife grinders and counter and beam scales, goffering irons (used to iron ruffs and frills), peelers, graters and corkscrews. Price guides, says the auction house, are set attractively in the low to high hundreds, which will appeal to collectors at all entry levels.
AUCTION fact file WHAT: The Annie Marchant Collection of Kitchenalia From: Canterbury Auction Galleries, 40 Station Rd, Canterbury, Kent CT2 8AN How: Live Online When: April 10-13 Viewing: Online at www.thecanterbury auctiongalleries.com, or call 01227 763337 for a limited-edition catalogue
IN MY OPINION...
We asked Canterbury Auction Galleries’ Dave Parker for his sale highlights How important is the collection?
In its field the collection is most certainly of national importance and certain lots will attract international interest by virtue of the sheer diversity of items.
Where is interest likely to come from?
The range and extent of items is remarkable, therefore we are expecting interest from way outside the usual collecting fraternity. There are items that will be sought after by film and TV prop specialists, interior designers for pubs and rustic-themed restaurants, historians, museums and owners of period properties.
Which pieces do you anticipate will receive the most interest?
Jelly moulds and advertising material are always sought after, but don’t rule out the collectors of simple items such as nutmeg graters. The collection is so significant the catalogue (the proceeds from which are going to the Canterbury Salvation Army) itself will no doubt become a reference guide.
Are there any entry-level items?
Above left Six Victorian copper jelly moulds, two by Benham & Froud and D. Jones Bros, Down St., have an estimate of £150£200 Left A corner of Annie’s kitchen at her home in Wenderton, Kent Below left The Annie
Marchant collection can be seen at Kiplin Hall from May 17
I think we can confidently say there really is something for every pocket, from entry-level mixed lots to single item specialist items that complete or enhance existing collections.
Have you got a personal favourite lot?
It is very hard, even as a non collector not to find something you like as the same typically Victorian robust engineering that was used the world over to build ships and bridges spills over into items as modest as a toasting fork. However, I must confess to liking the pastoral idyll depicted by the decorated milk pails and churns. Below Two early 19th-century brass sugar cutters and
three steel hand sugar cutters, have an estimate of £150-£200 at this month’s sale
Discover more
With no immediate family, Annie left her museum collection to Kiplin Hall in North Yorkshire built in 1619 for George Calvert, founder of the US state of Maryland. Hall director, James Etherington, said: “These items will help tell the full story of all the people who lived here over the last 400 years.” The Annie Marchant collection will be on show to the public as soon as the hall opens on May 17. For more details on opening times go to www.kiplinhall.co.uk, or call 01748 818178.
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 53
COLLECTING GUIDES Dunrobin Castle
Highland FLING In its heyday, Dunrobin Castle held elaborate shooting parties for the Victorian nobility, including the Queen herself. Now the decision to declutter the attics has brought all sorts of treasures to light. Mary Miers reports
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unrobin Castle is unquestionably the most magnificent building in the north of Scotland. A fairytale vision of spired tourelles riding high above trees against the bare shoulder of Ben Bhraggie, it owes its Renaissancechâteau appearance to a Victorian remodelling, although, unlike so many 19th-century ‘castles’, its gleaming ashlar walls encase a medieval keep. The 13th-century seat of the Earls of Sutherland grew piecemeal through the 17th and 18th centuries to form the southern part of the palatial buildings we see today, elevated dramatically above the Moray Firth.
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Above Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland, the mostmagnificent building in the north of Scotland
The public rooms are the result of a 1919 rebuilding of the Victorian ranges following a dramatic fire. Designed by Scottish arts and crafts architect Sir Robert Lorimer, they are regarded as among his most beautiful interiors and provide an outstanding setting for the famous collection of family portraits by artists such as Sir Thomas Lawrence, George Romney, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Allan Ramsay, as well as 18th-century furniture and Mortlake tapestries, marble busts, paintings by Tintoretto, Sir David Wilkie and Michael Wright, and many other treasures. These rooms have been open to the public since 1973, but a new layer of Dunrobin’s history has recently been uncovered with the decision to declutter attics and cellars that had lain undisturbed for decades.
UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS Rare objects on public display, such as two of the earliest vacuum cleaners and a bell-pull system with miles of brass wiring still in perfect condition, touch on this Upstairs, Downstairs aspect of country-house life. However, the picture has now been greatly enriched by the discovery of countless other household artefacts, many of which will be offered in the Dunrobin Attic Sale at Bonhams’ Edinburgh saleroom on April 20. They represent a fascinating time capsule of domestic operations on a Downton Abbey scale. Maids’ bedrooms tucked into the eaves of the earlier ranges had been reconfigured to become porcelain stores, with rows of
Left One room housed stacks of gilt picture frames Below right The maids’
rooms on the attic floors, where many treasures were found
footbaths, floral jugs and washbasins, chamber pots and piles of crested dinner services, all jostling for space with meat domes, tiered oyster servers and untold numbers of copper vessels and glass carafes.
IN THE FRAME
TARTAN ARMY
Tartan proliferated in dress and upholstery in the castle’s apogee, stag heads peered down from billiard-room walls, pipers serenaded guests, and entertainment included Highland Games and balls. During the day, the ladies would walk and sketch, while the men went stalking with a retinue of stalkers, head keeper, and pony and kennel boys. Before the family arrived, additional servants would be sent ahead from their English houses to prepare the castle for the season. In the later 19th century, WCs and bathrooms were installed at Dunrobin – the latter created in turrets by removing spiral staircases – and, soon after, gas fires were introduced to some of the rooms, but, until then, housemaids were required to carry coal and water to the bedrooms. The survival of so many objects relating to this now vanished way of life is remarkable. The forthcoming Dunrobin Attic Sale offers an opportunity to own some of these glorious objects – tangible reminders of an astonishing château in the wilds that encapsulates stirring history, unbridled wealth and the romanticism of the Highlands.
RICH DYNASTY Dunrobin’s lavish remodelling in the 1840s, to a design based on the Château de Chenonceaux, trumpeted the fantastic wealth of the Leveson-Gowers, whose territorial empire combined virtually the entire county of Sutherland with more than 30,000 acres of England.
In the Victorian wing, rooms that had served as boys’ dormitories when the castle was a public school in the 1960s had been appropriated for extra storage: one housed stacks of gilt picture frames; another, paintings, including a portrait of Millicent, the Duchess of Sutherland’s pet dog; with a box containing sugar moulds and other lead objects whose purpose has long been forgotten. In the cellars, where huge pipes carry water from the river to combat fire, one room had shelves lined with green baize that was piled high with silver; another had luggage. There was also a room filled with Scottish arms and armour, including a pair of Scottish 18th-century flintlock belt pistols made by Alexander Campbell of Doune - and one with a large collection of tartan ware. Most thrilling of all was the discovery of several rooms that even the castle manager had never entered. There, among the cobwebs, rows of marble busts, as well as plaster copies of those on display in the castle, peered through the darkness, including one of Queen Victoria.
‘The Highland Season was already in fashion. This was the annual summer migration of the leisured classes, who flocked north with their guns, rods, sketchbooks and copies of Walter Scott’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 55
COLLECTING GUIDES Dunrobin Castle relieve the poverty of his tenants, the introduction of large-scale sheep farms masterminded by the controversial agent, James Loch, will forever associate the Sutherland estate with the notorious Highland Clearances.
SIR CHARLES BARRY The creation of a ducal palace in the wilds was the initiative of the 2nd Duke (1786-1861), who inherited shares in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in addition to the Sutherland fortune, and was addicted to building. He had already engaged Sir Charles Barry to build Trentham Hall in Staffordshire and to complete his magnificent London residence Stafford House, and would later employ him at Cliveden. At Dunrobin, Barry was largely responsible for the scheme that tripled the size of the castle between 1845 and 1851. With the Aberdeen architect, William Leslie, Barry also designed the Italianate garden, a richlypatterned carpet of formal parterres spread out below the castle in glorious counterpoint to the rugged hills beyond. By now, the Highland Season was already in fashion. This was the annual summer migration of the leisured classes, who flocked north with their guns, rods, sketchbooks and copies of Walter Scott to enjoy a sporting paradise in a sublime landscape as potato blight, typhoid and starvation stalked the glens. A major incentive for the duke’s extravagant expenditure was the prospect of a visit to Dunrobin by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who were yet to establish their own Highland holiday retreat in Upper Deeside. A lower wing linking the grand new public rooms to the earlier ranges Busts once on display were discovered in the unused rooms
The transformation of an ancient Scottish earldom into one of Victorian Britain’s richest dynasties was the result of the marriage in 1785 of Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, to George Granville LevesonGower (from 1803, the 2nd Marquess of Stafford), whose soubriquet ‘the Leviathan of Wealth’ reflected that fact that he was heir to three estates in England and one of the greatest fortunes of the Industrial Revolution – most lucratively the growing profits of the Bridgewater Canal, inherited from his uncle. Although somewhat overshadowed by his vivacious, artistic wife, he was nonetheless a great art collector and agricultural improver, whose support of Catholic Emancipation and the Reform Bill accorded with his Liberal views; in 1833, the year he died, he was elevated to a Dukedom. Francis Chantrey’s statue of the 1st Duke of Sutherland rises from a monumental plinth high on the hill above Dunrobin. Visible from afar, it is an emotive symbol of Highland landownership, for, despite the vast sums channelled into rural industries and philanthropic schemes to
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Above Once on display, the family silver has been in storage Right Scottish arms and
armour, including a pair of Scottish 18th-century flintlock belt pistols made by Alexander Campbell of Doune
‘This was the heyday of Dunrobin, when, as well as being the administrative centre of a vast landholding that stretched 1,300,000 acres as far as the North and West Coasts, the castle served – as it would until well into the 20th century – as a grand shooting lodge, a summer residence for sport and socialising’
Right One painting was a
portrait of Millicent, the Duchess of Sutherland’s pet dog
Below A pail full of the
house’s kitchenalia
Below left Sketching was a favourite pastime of Dunrobin visitors
was furnished as the royal suite, with an oriel window, flanked by pepperpot turrets, providing wonderful sea views from the Queen’s bedroom. She would later describe the “beautiful bed with white and gold flowers and doves at each corner”, which can still be seen in the castle. The room had walls of “pale blue and white panels; blue satin spangled with yellow leaves”, with “furniture and carpet to match”.
ROYAL WELCOME In the event, the Queen never made it to Dunrobin with Prince Albert; it was not until September 1872 that she came to stay for the first time, as guest of the 3rd Duke and his wife, Anne, Mistress of the Robes and Victoria’s close friend and companion. She travelled north by train with Princess Beatrice, to be met by the duke driving his own engine, dressed in “a curious get up”. He was mad about mechanical engineering and had financed the building of the Highland Railway. At Golspie Station, they were
greeted by the Duke of Sutherland Volunteers, “very handsome in red jackets and Sutherland tartan kilts”. The village was decked out with heather and flowers, and “everywhere… the loyalty and enthusiasm was very great,” the Queen enthused in her journal. This was the heyday of Dunrobin, when, as well as being the administrative centre of a vast landholding that stretched 1,300,000 acres as far as the north and west coasts, the castle served – as it would until well into the 20th century – as a grand shooting lodge, a summer residence for sport and socialising. Queen Victoria’s famous accounts of her holidays at Balmoral chronicle a lifestyle that was being played out in big houses all over the Highlands. Mary Miers is the author of Highland Retreats: The Architecture and Interiors of Scotland’s Romantic North. The Dunrobin Attic Sale tales place on April 20 in Edinburgh. For more details go to www.bonhams. com/dunrobin ANTIQUE COLLECTING 57
ANTIQUES UNDER THE HAMMER Lots in April
TOP of the LOTS
Work by Lalique and Jean Dubuffet are on sale this month, as well as an intriguing trio of cricket bats A hardback, first-edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, one of only 500 in the first printrun in 1997, is expected to make £20,000-£30,000 at Hansons’ sale on April 9. The book, the first in the series, was a gift to the vendor’s children then aged seven and four, who liked to read it in the bath. When the owner heard of the expected sale price he said: “It took me a moment to digest, well, several, actually.” Of the 500 books published by Bloomsbury some 25 years ago, 300 went to schools and libraries and 200 to book shops. Above A rare first edition hardback copy of Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone
A oil on canvas portrait by the circle of Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) has an estimate of £4,000-£6,000 at Olympia Auctions’ sale on April 28. Entitled Portrait of a Boy and Whippet, it may be from the studio of Kneller who was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to English and British monarchs from Charles II to George I. To raise money for a number of causes the London auction house has reduced the vendor’s commission from 15 per cent to 10 per cent of which half will go to the Wallace Collection, Westminster Abbey or the Grange Festival. Above Some proceeds of the sale of the portrait will go to charity
A frosted vase by the legendary glass designer René Lalique (18601945) is expected to make £12,000£18,000 at Lyon and Turnbull London’s first sale dedicated to the French maker. The Serpent vase, 1924, which is 26.7cm high, is signed R. LALIQUE. Most of Lalique’s vases were created in clear and frosted glass with some having a subsequent stain – in this case grey – applied to the surface to highlight the details of the work. Above The delicate design is signed by the glass maker René Lalique
58 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
A cricket bat signed by both the England and Australian 1938 teams, including cricketing legends Len Hutton, Denis Compton and Don Bradman and has an estimate of £1,000 at Charterhouse’s sale on April 8. Three bats were discovered in a Dorset cottage close to the Sherborne auctioneers, with a Victorian bat with a presentation plaque expected to make £150-£250 and a well-used Gunn & Moore ‘Cannon’ version carrying hopes of £100-£200 in the sale. Above right The trio of bats was found in a Dorset home Above One bat was signed by some of the most important names in pre-war cricket
‘Of the 500 copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone published by Bloomsbury some 25 years ago, 300 went to schools and libraries and 200 to book shops’ A monumental work by the French artist and sculptor Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) has an estimate of £1.5-£2m at Phillips’ evening sale on April 15. La féconde journée, 1976, is from the artist’s Théâtres de mémoire series from September 1975 until August 1978, containing some of the largest compositions Dubuffet ever made until a bad back ruled out further giant canvases. The work builds on Dubuffet’s definition of Art Brut that characterised his work of the late 1940s, layering materials in 44 sections. Above The large canvas, in the Art Brut style, measures 2m x 2.10m
Movie time
1
Film fanatics and entertainment aficionados have two auctions to put in the calendar this month, with a sale devoted to James Bond on April 9 and the collection of Michael Armstrong – who created a mini cinema at his Norfolk home – at Ewbank’s Auctions on April 30. Armstrong was such a film fanatic that when the local cinema closed in his home town of Wymondham in 1993, he opened his own mini replica. He went on to establish The Regal Experience, a sellout Sunday afternoon film show that attracted many of the stars who appeared in the films to visit, including Debbie Reynolds, Tony Curtis and Virginia McKenna. Now the contents of his home cinema, converted from his garage, including a replica box office, cinema seats, fixtures, fittings and equipment, as well as posters and other memorabilia go under the hammer on April 30.
Buy another day
Meanwhile Ewbank’s Auctions continues its sales dedicated to the world’s most famous spy, with James Bond 007 the title of its April 9 auction. Ewbank’s partner and specialist Alastair McCrea, said: “Arriving, as it does, just before lockdown is eased significantly, we’re hoping that the sale will add some much-needed sparkle to the calendar as people prepare for the slow return to normal.” The sale includes one of the great Bond rarities, an original 1962 British quad poster for the debut Bond film Dr No. The linen-backed, 30in by 40in (72cm by 100cm) poster is in generally good condition, with a few minor blemishes. With an estimate of £6,000-£9,000, it is a must-have for any serious Bond aficionado. When it comes to 007, quads are the most sought after. A landscape poster, it is the rarest size of all theatrical release James Bond posters, with very few printed and just a handful still in existence. Collectable posters are those designed and printed by the film studio for distribution to cinemas. Reprints, or those intended for retail, have very little value. As an illustration of just how collectable Bond is, a folded 1965 poster for Thunderball with the top left section missing has an estimate of £800-£1,200 in the sale. For most other films, such damage would make it worthless. An uncorrected proof of the 1963 book On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, published by Jonathan Cape has an estimate of £600-£800.
2
3
4
5
1 The box office at Michael Armstrong’s mini replica of the former
Regal cinema, whose contents will be for sale at Ewbank’s Auctions on April 30. 2 Some of the fixtures, fittings and equipment to be offered in Ewbank’s sale. 3 The banks of real cinema seats refitted in Michael Armstrong’s replica Regal cinema, together with exit door and sign. 4 The poster for Thunderball (1965) despite damage has a pre-sale estimate of £800-£1,200. 5 A British linen-backed quad for Dr No (1962) is expected to sell for £6,000-£9,000 The James Bond 007 sale is on April 9 with the Michael Armstrong cinema collection on April 30, for more details go to www.ewbankauctions.co.uk
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 59
AUCTION Calendar Because this list is compiled in advance, alterations or cancellations to the auctions listed can occur and it is not possible to notify readers of the changes. We strongly advise anyone wishing to attend an auction especially if they have to travel any distance, to telephone the organiser to confirm the details given.
LONDON: Inc. Greater London Bonhams New Bond St., W1 020 7447 7447 www.bonhams.com London Jewels, Apr 28 Fine and Rare Wines, Apr 29 Bonhams Knightsbridge, SW7 020 7393 3900 www.bonhams.com Old Master Paintings, Apr 14 Knightsbridge Jewels, Apr 21 The Marine Sale, Apr 21 Prints and Multiples, Apr 28 Modern British and Irish Art, Apr 28 Chiswick Auctions 1 Colville Rd, Chiswick, W3 8BL 020 8992 4442 www.chiswickauctions.co.uk Watches, Apr 14 Interiors, Homes & Antiques, Apr 14 Photographica, Apr 15 Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern & North African Art, Apr 15 Islamic & Indian Art, Apr 16 Old Master Paintings & Drawings, Apr 20 Design, Apr 21, Modern & PostWar British Art, Apr 21 Autographs & Memorabilia, Mar 24 Christie’s King St., London, SW1 020 7839 9060 www.christies.com Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, Apr 1 Books, Manuscripts, Photographs: From the Middle Ages to the Moon (Online), Apr 14-28 The Collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II: Eaton Square and Turville Grange, Apr 15 The Collector (Online), Apr 29May 20 Dix Noonan Webb 16 Bolton St, Piccadilly, W1J 8BQ 020 7016 1700 www.dnw.co.uk Coins and Historical Medals, Apr 6 Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, Apr 14
60 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Forum Auctions 220 Queenstown Road, London SW8 4LP 020 7871 2640 www.forumauctions.co.uk Books and Works on Paper (Online), Apr 15, 29 Forum Auctions @ Artsy, Apr 28 Hansons Auctioneers The Normansfield Theatre, 2A Langdon Park, Teddington TW11 9PS, 0207 018 9300 www.hansonsauctioneers.com The Two-Day Spring Fine Art, Interiors & Jewellery Auction, Apr 24-26 Lyon & Turnbull 22 Connaught Street, London, W2 2AF 0207 930 9115 www.lyonandturnbull.com Contemporary & Post-War Art, April 7 Asian Arts, April 8 Lalique, April 29 Modern Made: Modern British & Post-War Art, Design & Studio Ceramics, Apr 30 Olympia Auction 25 Blythe Road, London, W14 OPD 020 7806 5541 www.olympiaauctions.com British & Continental Pictures and Prints, Apr 28 Phillips 30 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EX, 020 7318 4010 www.phillips.com None listed for April Roseberys Knights Hill, SE27 020 8761 2522 www.roseberys.co.uk Design: Decorative Arts from 1860 to the Present Day, Apr 27 Sotheby’s New Bond St., W1 020 7293 5000 www.sothebys.com Easter Feast, Mar 29-Apr 7 Fine Watches, Apr 1-14 Impressionist and Modern Art, Apr 7-14 Contemporary Curated, Apr 9-16
Distilled: Whisky and Whiskey, Apr 14-30 Vine | Finest & Rarest, Apr 16 Old Master Paintings, Apr 23-28 Apr 9-18 Travel, Atlases and Maps, Apr 27 SOUTH EAST AND EAST ANGLIA: Inc. Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex Beeston Auctions Unit 12, Paynes Business Park, Dereham Road, Beeston, Norfolk, PE32 2NQ 01328 598080 www.beestonauctions.co.uk Jewellery and Fine Silver, Apr 14 Antiques and Collectables, Apr 15 Bishop and Miller 19 Charles Industrial Estate, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 5AH 01449 673088 www.bishopandmillerauctions. co.uk Mr Bishop Interiors, Apr 13, 27 Mr Bishop Clocks, Apr 13 Mr Bishop Toys and Music, Apr 20 Mr Bishop Books, Apr 27 Mr Bishop Jewellery, Apr 29 Military, Medals & Weapons, Apr 30 Bellmans Newpound, Wisborough Green, West Sussex, RH14 0AZ 01403 700858 www.bellmans.co.uk Interiors, including European Ceramics and Works of Art, Apr 13-15 The Friday Sale (at No Reserve), Apr 16 Burstow & Hewett The Auction Gallery, Lower Lake, Battle, East Sussex,TN33 0AT 01424 772 374 www.burstowandhewett.co.uk Antiques, Apr 28 Fine Art, Apr 29 Cheffins Clifton House, Clifton Road, Cambridge, CB1 7EA 01223 213343
www.cheffins.co.uk The Interiors Sale, Apr 8 The Jewellery, Silver & Watches Sale, Apr 18 The Fine Sale, Apr 21-22 Clarke and Simpson Campsea Ashe, Nr. Wickham Market, Suffolk, IP13 0PS 01728 746323 www.clarkeandsimpson.co.uk The Monday Sale, Apr 5, 12, 19, 26 Durrants Auctions The Old School House, Peddars Lane, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 9UE 01502 713490 www.durrantsauctions.com General Antiques with Furniture, Apr 9 Silver and Jewellery, Apr 16 Antique and Country Furniture, Apr 23 Militaria, Firearms and Taxidermy, Apr 30 Ewbank’s London Rd, Send, Woking, Surrey 01483 223 101 www.ewbankauctions.co.uk James Bond 007 Auction, Apr 9 Antique & Collectors’ inc. Jewllery & Silver, Apr 14 Asian Art, Apr 15 Vintage Fashion & Textiles, Apr 15 Decorative Arts, Vintage & Modern Design, Apr 29 Contemporary Art, Editions & Modern British Pictures, Apr 29 The Michael Armstrong Cinema Collection, Apr 30 Excalibur Auctions Limited Unit 16 Abbots Business Park Primrose Hill Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, WD4 8FR 020 3633 0913 wwwexcaliburauctions.com Autographs, Apr 10 John Nicolson’s Longfield, Midhurst Road Fernhurst, Haslemere Surrey, GU27 3HA 01428 653727 www.johnnicholsons.com None listed for April
Lacy Scott & Knight 10 Risbygate St, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3AA, 01284 748 623 www.lskauctioncentre.co.uk Home and Interiors, Apr 10 Toys & Models, Apr 16 Lockdales 52 Barrack Square, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk IP5 3RF, 01473 627110 www.lockdales.com Paper Collectables (Stamps, Cards, Books, Documents), Apr 21 Mander Auctioneers The Auction Centre, Assington Road, Newton, Sudbury,Suffolk CO10 0QX, 01787 211847 www.manderauctions.co.uk Spring Fine Art, Apr 17 Reeman Dansie No. 8 Wyncolls Road Severalls Business Park, Colchester, CO4 9HU 01206 754754 www.reemandansie.com Homes & Interiors, Apr 7 Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, CM24 8GE 01279 817778 www.sworder.co.uk Out of the Ordinary, Apr 13 Homes and Interiors (live online) April 14 Books and Maps (timed), Apr 18 Coins and Medals (timed), Apr 18 Modern British and 20th Century Art (live online), Apr 20 Modern British and 20th Century Art Part 2 (timed), Apr 25 Homes and Interiors (live online), Apr 27 Jewellery (live online), Apr 28 T.W. Gaze Diss Auction Rooms, Roydon Road, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 4LN, Norfolk 01379 650306. www.twgaze.com Antiques & Interiors, Apr 1 Antiques & Interiors, Apr 9 Blyth Barn Furniture Auction, Apr 14 Antiques & Interiors, Apr 16 SOUTH WEST: Inc. Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire
British Bespoke Auctions The Old Boys School, Gretton Rd, Winchcombe, Cheltenham, GL54 5EE 01242 603005 www.bespokeauctions.co.uk Antiques and Fine Jewellery, Apr 15 Chorley’s Prinknash Abbey Park, Gloucestershire, GL4 8EU 01452 344499 www.chorleys.com Collections from The Laskett, and other Fine Art & Antiques, Apr 27 Modern Art and Design, Apr 28 David Lay Auctions Penzance Auction House Alverton, Penzance, Cornwall 01736 361414 www.davidlay.co.uk Jewellery, Silver, Watches and Objet d’art, Apr 8 Books & Collector’s Sale, Apr 22 Dawsons Kings Grove Estate, Maidenhead, Berkshire | SL6 4DP 01628 944100 www.dawsonsauctions.co.uk Jewellery, Watches & Silver, Apr 15 Fine Art & Antiques, Apr 29 Dominic Winter Auctioneers Mallard House, Broadway Lane, South Cerney, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 5UQ 01285 860006 www.dominicwinter.co.uk English & Continental Printed Books & Manuscripts, Maps & Prints, The Faith Shannon Bookbindery, Apr 7-8 Dreweatts Donnington Priory Newbury Berkshire RG14 2JE 01635 553 553 www.dreweatts.com Jewellery, Silver, Watches, Pens and Luxury Accessories Pt. II, Apr 13-14 The Transport Sale, Apr 20 Fine Clocks, Barometers and Scientific Instruments, Apr 21 Fine and Rare Wine and Spirits, Apr 29 Duke’s Brewery Square, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1GA 01305 265080 www.dukes-auctions.com Watches, Apr 8
Dewlish House: Auction of Selected Contents, Apr 13 East Bristol Auctions Unit 1, Hanham Business Park, Memorial Road, Hanham, BS15 3JE 0117 967 1000 www.eastbristol.co.uk Monthly, Apr 8-9 Toys, Apr 24 Gardiner Houlgate 9 Leafield Way, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9SW 01225 812912 www.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk Vintage and General, Apr 22 Hannam’s Auctioneers 4 The High Street, Alton, Hampshire, UK, GU34 1BU, 01420 511788 www.hannamsauctioneers.com Fine Art and Antiques, Apr 15 Hansons Auctioneers 49 Parsons Street, Banbury, Oxford, OX16 5NB. 01295 817777 www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk Banbury Antiques and Collectors, Apr 1 Lawrences Auctioneers Ltd. Crewkerne, Somerset, TA18 8AB, 01460 703041 www.lawrences.co.uk Silver and Vertu, Apr 20 Jewellery, 19th/20th Century Design & Ceramics, Apr 22 Pictures, Furniture, Clocks & Rugs, Apr 23 Mallams Oxford Bocardo House, St Michael’s St, Oxford. 01865 241358 www.mallams.co.uk The Oxford Library Sale, including Fine Books, Apr 21-22 Mallams Cheltenham, 26 Grosvenor St, Cheltenham. Gloucestershire, 01242 235 712 www.mallams.co.uk Country House Sale, Apr 26 Mallams Abingdon Dunmore Court, Wootten Road, Abingdon, OX13 6BH 01235 462840 www.mallams.co.uk Home Sale, Apr 26 Philip Serrell Barnards Green Rd, Malvern, Worcs. WR14 3LW, 01684 892314 www.serrell.com Interiors, Apr 8, 29
Stroud Auctions Bath Rd Trading Estate, Bath Rd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 3QF 01453 873 800 www.stroudauctions.co.uk Guns, Weapons, Medals, Militaria, Taxidermy, Sporting, Vinyl Records & Musical Instruments, Apr 14-15 The Pedestal The Dairy, Stonor Park, Henley-onThames, Oxfordshire RG9 6HF, United Kingdom 01491 522733 www.thepedestal.com None listed for April Woolley & Wallis, 51-61 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 3SU, 01722 424500 www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk Furniture, Works of Art & Clocks, Apr 20-21 Silver & Objects of Vertu, Apr 27-28 Jewellery, Apr 29 EAST MIDLANDS: Inc. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Sheffield Batemans Ryhall Rd, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1XF 01780 766 466 www.batemans.com Fine Art, Antiques & Specialist Collectors, Apr 10 Gildings Auctioneers The Mill, Great Bowden Road, Market Harborough, LE16 7DE 01858 410414, www.gildings.co.uk Toys, Model Railways, Memorabilia and Comics, Apr 8 Fine & Decorative Arts and Antiques, Apr 13 Golding Young & Mawer The Bourne Auction Rooms, Spalding Road, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9LE 01778 422686 www.goldingyoung.com Bourne Collective Sale, Apr 3-4 Toy, Transport & Automobilia Sale, Apr 24 Golding Young & Mawer The Bourne Auction Rooms, Spalding Road, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9LE The Bourne Collective, Apr 7-8 Golding Young & Mawer The Grantham Auction Rooms, ANTIQUE COLLECTING 61
AUCTION Calendar Because this list is compiled in advance, alterations or cancellations to the auctions listed can occur and it is not possible to notify readers of the changes. We strongly advise anyone wishing to attend an auction especially if they have to travel any distance, to telephone the organiser to confirm the details given.
Old Wharf Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 7AA01476 565118 www.goldingyoung.com Grantham Collective Sale, Apr 14-15 Golding Young & Mawer The Lincoln Auction Rooms, Thos Mawer House, Station Road North Hykeham, Lincoln LN6 3QY 01522 524984 www.goldingyoung.com Lincoln Collective, Apr 21-22 Hansons Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, DE65 6LS 01283 733988 www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk Costume, Accessories & Textiles, Apr 9 Antiques & Collectors Auction, Apr 15-20 The Toy Auction, Apr 22 The Derbyshire Fine Art Auction, Apr 29 Mellors & Kirk The Auction House, Gregory Street, Nottingham NG7 2NL 0115 979 0000 www.mellorsandkirk.com Antiques & Collectors, Apr 14-15 WEST MIDLANDS: Inc. Birmingham, Coventry, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Bigwood Auctioneers Stratford-Upon-Avon Warwickshire, CV37 7AW 01789 269415 www.bigwoodauctioneers.com Furnishings, Interiors and Collectables, Apr 16 Cuttlestones Ltd Wolverhampton Auction Rooms, No 1 Clarence Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 4JL, 01902 421985 www.cuttlestones.co.uk Antiques & Interiors, Apr 14 Cuttlestones Ltd Pinfold Lane Penkridge Staffordshire ST19 5AP, 01785 714905
62 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
www.cuttlestones.co.uk Antiques and Interiors, Apr 7, 21
household items, antique & quality furniture, Apr 9-10
Fellows Augusta House, 19 Augusta Street, Hockley, Birmingham, B18 6JA 0121 212 2131 www.fellows.co.uk Pawnbrokers Jewellery & Watches, Apr 8 Silver and Costume Jewellery (timed), Apr 15 The Luxury Watch Sale, Apr 19 Pawnbrokers Jewellery & Watches, Apr 22 The Gemstone Sale (timed), Apr 23 Jewellery (timed), Apr 30
Trevanion & Dean The Joyce Building, Station Rd, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 1RD, 01928 800 202 www.trevanionanddean.com Fine Art and Antiques, Apr 14
Fieldings Mill Race Lane, Stourbridge, DY8 1JN 01384 444140 www.fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk The April Sale, Apr 22-23 Halls Bowmen Way, Battlefield, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 3DR 01743 450700 www.hallsgb.com/fine-art Antiques and Interiors, Apr 14 Modern and Contemporary Art (timed), Apr 23 to May 9 Hansons Auctioneers Bishton Hall, Wolseley Bridge, Stafford, ST18 0XN, 0208 9797954 www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk The Harry Potter Hogwarts Auction, Apr 7 The Contents of Over Burrows House & Spring Fine Art, Apr 8 Kingham & Orme Davies House, Davies Road, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 1YZ, 01386 244224 www.kinghamandorme.com Richard Dennis Promoting British Ceramics 1971-2021, Apr 17 Jewellery & Watches, Apr 23 Potteries Auctions Unit 4A, Aspect Court, Silverdale Enterprise Park, Newcastle, Staffordshire, ST5 6SS, 01782 638100 www.potteriesauctions.com Two Day Sale of 20th Century British Pottery, collectors items,
NORTH: Inc. Cheshire, Co. Durham, Cumbria, Humberside, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Sheffield, Yorkshire Adam Partridge Withyfold Drive, Macclesfield, Cheshire, 01625 431 788 www.adampartridge.co.uk Two Day Auction of Boutique, Silver, Jewellery, Watches, Coins & Banknotes with Furniture & Interiors, Apr 15-16 One Day Sale of Studio Ceramics, Apr 30
David Duggleby Auctioneers The Gallery Saleroom, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 1XN, 01723 507 111 www.davidduggleby.com Jewellery, Watches and Silver, Apr 1 Decorative Antiques & Collectors, Apr 2 Afforable Art, Apr 3 The Furnishings Sale, Apr 3 The Pocket Watch Auction, Apr 9 The Spring Art Sale, Apr 16 The Country House Sale, Apr 17 Jewellery, Watches, Silver & Coins, Apr 29 Decorative Antiques & Collectors Sale, Apr 30 Elstob & Elstob Ripon Business Park, Charter Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 1AJ 01677 333003 www.elstobandelstob.co.uk Fine Art & Antiques, Apr 24
Adam Partridge The Liverpool Saleroom, 18 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 OBP 01625 431 788 www.adampartridge.co.uk Rock & Pop with Antiques and Collectors’ Items, Apr 7
Wilson55 Victoria Gallery, Market St, Nantwich, Cheshire. 01270 623 878 www.wilson55.com Fine & Classic, Apr 15 Designer, Luxury & Fashion, Apr 22
Anderson and Garland Crispin Court, Newbiggin Lane, Westerhope, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE5 1BF 0191 432 1911 www.andersonandgarland.com Town and County, Apr 13, 27 The Stamps & Coin Auction, Apr 29
Sheffield Auction Gallery Windsor Road, Heeley, Sheffield, S8 8UB. 0114 281 6161 www.sheffieldauctiongallery.com Specialist Collectable Toys, Apr 8 Antiques & Collectables, Apr 9 The Tim Hale Derbyshire Postcard Collection, Apr 22 Stamps & Ephemera, Apr 22 Silver & Jewellery, Apr 22 Vinyl Records & Music Ephemera, Apr 23
Capes Dunn The Auction Galleries, 40 Station Road, Heaton Mersey, SK4 3QT 0161 273 1911 www.capesdunn.com Interiors, Vintage & Modern Furniture, Apr 6 European Ceramics, Glass, Oriental Works of Art, Apr 7 Interior, Vintage & Modern Furniture, Apr 19 Northern Artists, Apr 20
Tennants Auctioneers Leyburn, North Yorkshire 01969 623780 www.tennants.co.uk Antiques and Interiors, Apr 10, 23 Beswick & Border Fine Arts, Apr 10 Militaria & Ethnographica, Apr 14 The Curious Collector, Mar 27
Toys & Models, Sporting & Fishing, Apr 16 Fine Wine & Whisky, Apr 23 Motor Cars, Motorcycles & Automobilia, Apr 24 Thomson Roddick The Auction Centre, Marconi Road, Burgh Road Industrial Estate, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA2 7NA 01228 535 288 www.thomsonroddick.com None listed for April Vectis Auctions Ltd Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton on Tees, TS17 9JZ. www.vectis.co.uk 01642 750616 Diescast and Tinplate, Apr 14 General Toys, Apr 22 Model Trains, Apr 23 Diescast, Apr 27 TV & Film Related, Apr 29 Warrington and Northwich Auction 551 Europa Boulevard, Westbrook, Warrington, Cheshire WA5 7TP, 01925 658833 www.warringtonauctions.com Toy & Games, Apr 13, 27 Home & Garden and Antiques & Collectables, Apr 14, 28
Wilkinson’s Auctioneers The Old Salesroom, 28 Netherhall Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN1 2PW 01302 814 884 www.wilkinsons-auctioneers.co.uk Fine Furniture, Decorative Items & Effects, Apr 25 SCOTLAND Bonhams Queen St, Edinburgh. 0131 225 2266 www.bonhams.com The Dunrobin Attic Sale, Apr 20 Great Western Auctions 1291 Dumbarton Road Whiteinch, Glasgow G14 9UY 0141 954 1500, www. greatwesternauctions.com Two-Day Fine Art and Antiques, Apr 8-9 Lyon & Turnbull Broughton Pl., Edinburgh. 0131 557 8844 www.lyonandturnbull.com Design Since 1860, Apr 21
A collection of 19th century green paste jewellery Sold for £3,810 (including Buyer’s Premium) in December 2020
McTears Auctioneers 31 Meiklewood Road, Glasgow, G51 4GB, 0141 810 2880 www.mctears.co.uk Antiques & Interiors, Apr 2, 16, 30 Silver, Apr 8 Asian Works of Art, Apr 8 British & Continental Ceramics & Glass, Apr 8 Jewellery, Apr 9 Art, Medals, Militaria & Furniture, Apr 9 Coins & Banknotes, Apr 29 Thomson Roddick The Auction Centre, 118 Carnethie Street, Rosewell, Edinburgh, EH24 9AL, 0131 440 2448 www.thomsonroddick.com Antiquarian & Collectable Book Auction, Apr 15 WALES Anthemion Auctions, 15 Norwich Road, Cardiff, Wales, CF23 9AB 029 2047 2444 www.anthemionauction.com General Sale, Apr 7
Peter Francis Towyside Salerooms, Old Station Rd, Carmarthen, SA31 1JN 01267 233456 www.peterfrancis.co.uk Antiques, Furnishings & Collectors, Apr 14, 28 IRELAND Adam’s 26 St Stephens Green Dublin, D02 X66 353-1-6760261 www.adams.ie None listed for April Sheppard’s Irish Auction House The Square, Durrow, Co. Laois, R32 FN88, Ireland 353-57- 874 0000 www.sheppards.ie Great Irish Interiors Apr 27-28 Whyte’s 38 Molesworth St. Dublin, D02 KF80, 353-1-676 2888 www.whytes.ie None listed for April
Mallams 1788
J EWE L L E RY
&
WATCHES
S I LV E R 16 June 2021 ENTRIES INVITED
To arrange a free auction valuation please contact: Louise Dennis FGA DGA T: 01865 241358 E: louise@mallams.co.uk
BOCARDO HOUSE, ST MICHAEL’S STREET, OXFORD OX1 2EB
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 63
Join us for our next Fine Art & Antique Auction on
Wednesday 19 th May 2021 I nv i t i ng e nt ri es u nt i l 3 0 th Ap ri l
TREVANION For more information visit www.trevanion.com
64 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
LENNOX CATO ANTIQUES & WORKS OF ART EST: 1978
•WANTED• ~ WANTED ~
for epic East Yorkshire Georgian townhouse restoration. 4 identical Georgian reclaimed sash windows. Approx 64 inches high x 38 wide. Single Georgian windows. Size 38 x 38, and 37 wide x 65 high. Unusual decorative light fittings. Oil, gas, Colza or early electric. Wall, table or ceiling. Gasoliers needed. “Best Surprise” gas lamps. Mermaids etc. Original Georgian architectural features. Anything different,
Signed and unusual furniture. eg Georgian, Regency, William . Sofa / Pembroke side tables, curved doors, over door IV pediments, interior/columns, library furniture / bookcases. Alsoetc.Wide VictorianGeorgian campaignflchests, armchairs panelling oorboards. 8 inchetc. width. Ross of Dublin, Morgan & Sanders, Williams & Gibton, James Winter, Hill & Millard Approx 200m2 needed. Rectangular fanlight. Georgian iron and many others.
kitchen range. Decorative door locks and security features. Georgian chimney pots.
J Alderman. Daws and George Minter reclining chairs. Shoolbred/ Hamptons / Cornelius Smith Victorian armchairs.
Marble fire surrounds from 1750 to 1840,
Georgian to William IV eg Marble fire surrounds. Georgian / Regency/ William IV. bullseyes Bullseyes etc. etc. Exceptional Georgian / Regency fire grates
Stamped/ labelled furniture. Ross of Dublin/ Gregory Kane
Sash windows x 4 identical. Georgian Approx 58” high x 36” wide. campaign chests reclaimed. and branded campaign furniture in general.
R Daws and G.Minter reclining chairs.
Wide reclaimed floorboards. 100Wilkinson, m2. J Alderman, Morgan &Approx Sanders, James Winter, Early decorative oil / gas / electric lightWilliam fittings.Pocock Ceiling,and wallmany or table. Robert James, others. Early gasoliers. Colza lamps. Gimble lamp. Especially library furniture, bookcases, small tables etc.
Foot’s Patent chairs.
1 The Square, Church Street, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 5BD 01732 865 988 cato@lennoxcato.com
www.lennoxcato.com
Roland Ward, Van Ingen taxidermy. Human skull. Hippopotamus skull. Stuffed crocodile / alligator.
Exceptional bathroom fittings.
Decorated Victorian toilets; Doulton, Shanks, Unitas Quirky architectural features. Regency columns, corbels, marble and stone pieces, overetc. door pediments, folding/rolling multi part Georgian room dividing doors. Georgian candle boxes. Human skull.
Victorian canopy shower bath. Decorated toilets etc Unitas, Simplicitas, Deluge etc. Georgian chamber Decorated basins x 3. horse exercise chair.
vintagejewellery@yahoo.co.uk ororteltel07958 vintagejewellery@yahoo.co.uk 07958333442 333442
•WANTED• •WANTED•
VINTAGE WRISTWATCHES WRISTWATCHES VINTAGE
Omega Seamasters and pre-1980s Omegas in general. Omega Seamasters and pre-1980s Omegas in general. IWC and Jaeger LeCoultres, all styles. Looking for Reversos. American market filled IWC and Jaeger LeCoultres, styles. Lookingatfor American market filled and 14kall pieces possibly, theReversos. right price. and 14k pieces possibly, at the right price. Breitling Top Times, Datoras and 806 Navitimers. Breitling Top Times, Datoras and 806 Navitimers. Pre-1960s Rolex models, with a focus in pre-war tanks, tonneaus etc. Pre-1960s Rolex models, a focus pre-war tanks, etc. tonneaus etc. Gold or silver/steel. Alsowith World War in I Rolex 13 lignes Princes. Gold or silver/steel. Also World War I Rolex 13 lignes etc. Princes.
Longines, Tudors and Zeniths, pre-1970. Even basic steel models in nice condition. Longines, Tudors and Zeniths, pre-1970. Even basic steel models in nice condition. All the quirky oddities like Harwoods, Autorists, Wig Wag, Rolls etc, and World War I hunter and semi-hunter All the quirky oddities like Harwoods, Autorists,wristwatches. Wig Wag, Rolls etc, and World War I semi-hunter Early, pre-war ladies’ hunter watchesand also wanted by wristwatches. Rolex, Jaeger LeCoultre etc. Prefer 1920s/30s styles, early by doughnuts also considered. Early, pre-war ladies’ deco watches alsobut wanted Rolex, Jaeger LeCoultre etc. Prefer 1920s/30s deco styles, but early doughnuts also considered.
Yorkshire based, but often in London and can easily collect nationwide. Yorkshire based, but often in London and can easily collect nationwide.
vintagejewellery@yahoo.co.uk or tel 07958 333442 vintagejewellery@yahoo.co.uk or tel 07958 333442
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ANTIQUE COLLECTING 65 ANTIQUE COLLECTING 65
LAST WORD Marc Allum Let sleeping dogs lie – they create less mayhem
unthreading swathes of it one night. It was a write-off. Luckily, she eventually grew out of furniture, swapping to cured pigs ears. However, I once looked after a Jack Russell for a colleague and, while sitting around a rather fine and large William IV breakfast table entertaining a few friends, failed to notice a gnawing sound above the hub-bub of our boisterous lunch. The result was the remains of a beautifully carved lions-paw foot that cost several hundred pounds to repair. My colleague paid.
SQUIRREL AWAY
Marc My Words
P
Love them as we may there’s no doubt pets pose a huge threat to our beloved antiques, writes Marc Allum
ets! We love them. I have two terriers and a cat and I wouldn’t be without either of them. The joy and unconditional love and attention these creatures give has cheered me up on many a dull day during lockdown – and fuelled many a social media post too. However, the upside is often tempered by a downside and my life in the antiques business has been peppered with a myriad of animal-related tales.
On another occasion a feral cat got into my house in France and went berserk causing an Indian marble statue to fall through a display case. Utter carnage. I eventually caught the cat in an old parrot cage primed with a chicken leg connected to the door. I drove him five miles away to a new location in the countryside where he would hopefully do less damage.
CAT’S WHISKER
Dogs, on the other hand, have a propensity for chewing things. The amount of antique furniture I’ve viewed at auction with gnawed feet is rather heart-breaking, although some people might argue that this adds to the history and ‘patina’ of a piece. My first Jack Russell proved to be pretty destructive. Rescued from Battersea, she was a real cutie until she demolished a rather good Persian carpet by literally
Firstly, there are cats. Minou – my cat, (French for pussy) is a star. You will see him making a fleeting appearance on the opening titles of Antiques Roadshow wobbling a ‘Greek’ vase. He’s beautiful and clever but, like many moggies, he has propensity for weaving through objects on the kitchen dresser, sideboards and various tables around the house. My home is heavily populated by artefacts and it can be a problem. It’s the reason we included him in the titles because the theme of cats knocking precious family heirlooms off and breaking them, is a recurrent one. I hark back to the tale of a Chinese vase that was knocked over by the family feline, didn’t break and then went on to sell for more than £2m! Phew. Minou also ate my beloved 20-year-old cockatiel. But I’ve had to forgive him for that.
66 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
PAWS FOR THOUGHT
Yet the most extensive damage I’ve ever suffered stemmed from a combined pet and wildlife incident. It came about when a squirrel fell down the inglenook and was pursued around the house by both terriers and the cat. I can’t list the destruction here but suffice to say, you can imagine the scene while trying to catch the pets and flush the squirrel out of a door. Not one to be repeated. Despite the trials and tribulations of owning pets I still think – on balance – it’s more than worth it. The good thing about many antiques is that it’s often possible to restore them, as my own experience has proven. I’ve also rejuvenated several petdamaged items over the years too. Just one bit of advice though. If you have something exceptionally valuable, perhaps don’t put it where the cat can knock it off. Marc Allum is an author, lecturer and specialist on the Antiques Roadshow, for more details go to www.marcallum.co.uk
Below Marc’s cat Minou on the Antiques
Roadshow’s opening credits
‘Rescued from Battersea, my first Jack Russell was a real cutie until she demolished a rather good Persian carpet by literally unthreading swathes of it one night. It was a write-off. Luckily, she eventually grew out of chewing furniture, swapping to cured pigs ears’
James Bond 007 Auction: 9 April Asian Art: 15 April Vintage Fashion & Textiles: 15 April Decorative Arts, Vintage & Modern Design: 29 April Contemporary Art & Editions: 29 April The Micheal Armstrong Cinema Collection: 30 April
Specialists in the sale of single owner collections and estates
A 1964 Porsche 356C part of a private collection
SOLD: £48,000
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