FURNITURE, WORKS OF ART & CLOCKS

FURNITURE,WORKS OF ART& CLOCKS

13th January 2021

31st March 2021

DEPARTMENT MARK YUAN-RICHARDS +44 (0) 1722 411854 myr@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

JIM GALE +44 (0) 1722 339161 jg@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

SUZY BECSY +44 (0) 1722 446974 sb@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Now accepting consignments for the 2021 March and June sales.

OPPOSITE. A Charles II treen lignum vitae wassail bowl and cover, 43cm high Estimate £6,000 – 8,000

1. A George IV oak ‘Gothic’ hall table, 147.5cm wide Estimate £3,000 – 4,000

2. Detail of the print featured on the underside of the lid in the main image opposite

3. Aimeé-Jules Dalou (French 1838-1902). A bronze bust of a young boy, 41.8cm high Estimate £2,000 – 3,000

4. A cave bear skull, Pleistocene period 43cm long Estimate £1,000 – 1,500

Back in October 2017 I had the pleasure of selling a wonderful 17th century lignum vitae wassail bowl of exceptional size for £17,500 (including buyer’s premium) so almost three years to the day (as I write this) to my great surprise another fantastic example of the turner’s art has been consigned for sale at Woolley & Wallis.

Measuring 43cm high and 23cm diameter the present wassail bowl is of a very good size and colour but what makes it particularly rare and unusual is that the underside of the lid bears its original enamel print depicting the arms of Charles II. A print is a decorative boss that

predominately adorns treen mazer bowls from the 16th century, they are often decorated with heraldic devices, devotional subjects or initials of the owner. This lot is particularly well documented, featuring in an article titled ‘The Wassail Bowl and the Custom of Wassailing at Christmas Time’ by Owen Evan-Thomas in Apollo, December 1936. Owen Evan-Thomas was the doyenne of treen collecting during the 1930s when he published his own collection ‘Domestic Utensils of Wood’. In the article Evan-Thomas states that the present wassail bowl is the only example ‘I have ever seen containing under the lid its original ‘print’.