Chorley's Newsletter | March 2019

PRINKNASH ABBEY PARK, GLOUCESTERSHIRE GL4 8EU 01452 344499

SALEROOM NEWS MARCH 2019 AUCTION PREVIEW Tuesday 26 March Chorley’s is well known for handling private collections, large and small, and this March is no exception. A small group of items from a private collector in Spain will go under the hammer and features an intriguing variety of objects, united by their common theme of the highest quality.

An item with crossover appeal to collectors of Asian Art and English silver is Lot 161, a Chinese ivory brush pot with intricately carved decoration, mounted as a tankard

by George Frederick Pinnell, London 1843; this impressive object is estimated at £5,000-7,000.

Lot 161

The large ceramics section also offers the Jack Fell Collection of over 200 pieces of early blue and white transfer ware.

Chorley’s have sold numerous high value carpets and rugs over the past few years, not least from Ombersley Court in January 2019.

In March two rugs stand out, Lots 625 and 626, the first is a Kashan silk rug with a shimmering floral field, £1,200-1,800, the second (from the same collection) is a Turkish silk Hereke rug, £800-1,200; both look ready to take off!

Lot 139 Lot 625

Highlights include a tortoiseshell walking cane, Lot 139, with Toledo work handle, the pommel bearing a ducal crown for the Duke of Bivona. Having retained its original shark skin box, the cane is in excellent condition and asks £3,000£4,000.

Another item with interesting provenance is a silver dance card holder with propelling pencil, Lot 132, the cover of which bears the royal arms of Italy and which once belonged to the wife of Umberto II of Italy, estimate £600-800.

Lot 132

An Austro-Hungarian mother-ofpearl and garnet studded thermometer modelled as a halberd is another beautifully made and incredibly unusual item, which carries pre-sale expectations of £8001,200, Lot 152.

Lot 152

Auction: Tuesday 26 March, 10am

View Days:

As Brexit creeps ever closer, the UK’s entry to the Common Market seems a long time Lot 260 ago. If you’re looking for a gift for the Remainer in your life, what better than a limited edition Spode cup, commemorating that historic event, Lot 260, estimate £80-120.

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Sunday 24 March, 10am-4pm Monday 25 March, 9am-4pm Sale morning, 8.30am-10am Fully illustrated catalogue online Live online bidding online is available (for an additional charge) through:

Chorley’s is a member of The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and The Association of Accredited Auctioneers

January Sale Report: Our highly anticipated Country House sale in January did not disappoint. The majority of lots came from 14th Century Manor Beverston Castle, near Tetbury and Grade 1 Listed Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, with additional pieces from a Berkshire country house and selected other properties.

On the day, the star lots from Beverston Castle came from the impressive collection of jewellery collected by the late Mrs Rook, a long standing customer of Garrard, the prestigious Crown Jewellers. Mrs Rook lived with her late husband Major Laurence Rook MC at Beverston Castle which was once part of the great lordship of Berkeley, taken from Roger de Berkeley by Henry I. Highlights from Beverston Castle: 1. Natural saltwater pearl & diamond earrings, £38,000 2. Victorian diamond tiara, £19,000 3. Diamond three-stone ring, £15,000

A selection of lots from Ombersley Court, built for the first Lord Sandys between 1723-1726 by Francis Smith of Warwick, were offered for the first time having remained in the family for generations. Since the 1950s the house has remained somewhat of a ‘sleeping beauty,’ only viewed through the lens of photographer Arthur Oswald for a Country Life profile in 1953. Oswald’s photographs showcased the house’s decorative interiors and stately refinement, particularly the intricate plasterwork and carving.

Highlights from Ombersley Court: 1. A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell, 1782, £17,000 2. Portrait Miniature of a Lady by John Hoskins, circa 1635, £6,500 3. Portrait Miniature of a Gentleman by Cornelis Johnson, £5,500.

Other highlights came from a Berkshire country house: 1. Waiting for the Guns by Arthur Wardle (British 1860-1949), £6,500 2. The Duke of Beaufort Riding to Hounds, John Arnold Wheeler (British 1821-1903), £5,500 3. Naïve Study of a Bull, £4,000

Our next Country House sale will take place on 21 & 22 May, for which entries are invited.

MacDonald Gill and the W.H. Smith Map Visitors to our saleroom in January cannot have missed the extraordinary painting in pride of place on the wall above the rostrum. This large and intricate map is part of the W.H. Smith archive’s collection to be sold in our auction of 20th Century Art & Design on 16 April.

Born in Brighton in 1884, MacDonald 'Max' Gill (1884-1947), brother of the sculptor Eric Gill, became one of the l ea di ng graphic designers of his age. Although best known to the public for his entertaining pictorial poster maps, he was also an architect, letterer and mural painter. After joining a leading London architectural firm in 1903, he enrolled in calligraphy at the Central School of Arts & Crafts where his tutor was the legendary Edward Johnston. Beautiful lettering became an integral element in all his work. Gill set up his own studio in 1908, undertaking calligraphy, inscription design and mural painting.

The following year he was commissioned by the Arts & Crafts architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to paint the first of a series of decorative panel maps for the houses of wealthy Edwardians. These came to the attention of Frank Pick, the Commercial Manager of the Underground Electric Railways of London (now London Underground), who asked Gill to create an eye-catching pictorial poster to amuse passengers as they waited for their trains. Published in 1914, the Wonderground Map of London Town caused people to 'watch so long they miss their trains yet go on smiling'.

At the end of 1917, while Max Gill was in Dorset working as architect on a model farm project, he was invited onto the headstone committee of the Imperial War Graves Commission. The alphabet and regimental badge he designed for the military headstone are still used today - perhaps his most enduring legacy.

The W.H. Smith map was commissioned in 1929 by the firm's chairman Charles H. St. John Hornby and director Arnold D. Power soon after W.H. Smith had become a private company and it reflects the company's illustrious heritage as the number one stationer on British high streets. As well as the bookstalls and branches, it depicts the range of newspaper delivery methods, old and new, used by the firm. An Englishman in Paris could buy his daily paper at the W.H. Smith branch on the Rue de Rivoli - also shown on the map. Perhaps he travelled there on the aircraft The City of Glasgow, depicted over the Channel, which was the first luxury London to Paris service operated by Imperial Airways. The panel was installed in the W.H. Smith boardroom in the autumn of 1931. According to Gill's ledger, he was paid £765, around £42,000 in today's money - a small fortune.

Max Gill died in 1947 and was survived by his second wife, Priscilla (née Johnston). The collection of artworks and memorabilia she saved has been displayed in a series of exhibitions around the country in recent years and led to a dramatic upsurge in interest from collectors as well as the general public. Our thanks to Caroline M Walker, greatniece and official biographer of MacDonald Gill for this article.

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