PRINKNASH ABBEY PARK, GLOUCESTERSHIRE GL4 8EU 01452 344499
SALEROOM NEWS NOVEMBER 2018
Lot 360
Lot 361
Auction: Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 21 November The November auction features a strong selection of Asian Works of Art, led by an outstanding collection of twenty 18th and early 19th Century jade carvings. Collected by the grandfather of a Cheltenham family in the early 20th Century, they are expected to realize in total between £35,000 and £40,000. Subjects include exquisitely carved animals, birds, insects, flora and fauna, including three kittens playing, £2,000£3,000, a heron with its head extended along its back, Lot 360, £4,000-6,000, a beetle on mushrooms £2,000-3,000 and a peach cup with a flowerhead base and bird handle, Lot 361, £3,000-5,000. Lot 402
Lot 409
A Chinese blue and white saucer dish, Lot 402, from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) painted a four clawed dragon chasing a flaming pearl looks good value at £300-500 and Lot 409, a pair of large Chinese cloisonné enamel vases would make fine statement pieces in anyone’s home, £600-800. A fine and rare pair of Qing dynasty rhinoceros horn libation cups, Lot 401, will also be offered. These have been consigned by a client in Worcestershire, whose father acquired them from the owner of Lot 401 Powis Castle in the early 1940s. The cups were beautifully carved in the mid-19th Century, and depict figures and animals amongst foliage, estimate £60,000£80,000.
A good selection of paintings is headed by a depiction of the Madonna and Child Lot 652 with St John, attributed to Giovanni Battista Salvi (1609-1685), known as Sassoferrato because of the town in Italy from which he came. For those of you with long memories, Lot 652 may look familiar, because it has graced the walls of our saleroom before. Back in 2006, just after we left Bruton Knowles to start our new saleroom at Prinknash Abbey, we received instructions to auction the property of the late Mr Michael Peterson, erstwhile organist and choirmaster of Tewkesbury Abbey. This painting from his collection was at the time ascribed as 18th Century, after Correggio. In the twelve years since it was sold, further research has been undertaken and the attribution has been altered. The purchaser has decided the time has come to sell it, and we are delighted that he has asked us to do the honours. The painting is expected to realise in the region of £15,000-20,000. Leading an elegant jewellery section is Lot 275, an extremely rare Art Deco Cartier ‘Egyptian’ onyx and diamond lapel watch, circa 1930, with a tapering gilt dial signed Cartier; this has an estimated value of £15,000-20,000. Further pieces by Cartier include a diamond necklace and an enamel cased pocket watch, Lot 274. Among gemstones of all shapes and sizes, the most impressive is a diamond solitaire ring measuring a whopping 5cts, estimate £25,000-30,000, Lot 197. Now that would be a lovely surprise to find in your stocking this Christmas! Lot 274
Lot 275 Front & Back
Lot 197
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AUCTION PREVIEW Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 21 November Leading Ladies One of the first items to greet visitors to the saleroom is Lot 754, a beautiful bust of Lady Mary de Vere, formerly Mary Spring-Rice, by Edward Hodges Bailey, a Royal academician who sculpted the sandstone sculpture of Nelson which tops the column in Trafalgar Square. The sculpture has an estimated value of £3,500-4,000. Lady Mary de Vere was one of the many women to have acted independently to help those suffering during the Great Famine in Ireland. She is known to have revived the art of making Limerick Lace as a relief measure in 1847.
Lot 754
Lot 1004
Another lot connected with a famous female figure is a pair of commodes that once belonged to British socialite Essex Leila Hilary French, with an estimated price of £3,000-5,000, Lot 1004. The socialite appeared in celebrated British photographer Cecil Beaton’s first book of photographs The Book of Beauty, published in 1930, alongside other eminent female figures of the time such as Virginia Woolf and Tallulah Bankhead. For the past 25 years, the commodes have been on loan to Hanbury Hall, a National Trust property in Worcestershire. The online catalogue for this auction will be fully illustrated on our website from Friday 9th November.
Among the good selection of 17th to 19th Century furniture, a credence table which once belonging to the Reverend Henry George Liddell carries an estimate of £200-300. Headmaster of Westminster School (18461855), Dean of Christchurch Oxford and ViceChancellor of Oxford University, Liddell’s academic achievements were formidable, however if the name rings a bell it may be because of his daughter Alice, the inspiration for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s famous book. Dodgson was friend of the family and is known to have told Alice and her sisters the story during a lazy afternoon boat trip. Totally enraptured, ten year old Alice begged Dodgson to write it down and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865 under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.
Viewing Times: Sunday 18 November 10am-4pm Monday 19 November 9am-4pm Sale mornings 8.30am-10am Auction: Tuesday 20 November, 10am Lots 1-547 Wednesday 21 November, 10am Lots 550-1027 All figures provided are estimates only. A charge called buyer’s premium will be added to the hammer price of every lot, and other fees may apply. Please contact us before bidding if you require any further information. Live bidding online at all our auctions with:
Lot 937
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SALE REPORT Modern Art & Design, 9 October Sergei Chepik
Sergei Chepik’s boxing scene towered over our saleroom for a few weeks, and at the auction it turned out to be the champion lot of the day, punching through its estimate to the prize sum of £8,000. The style of the Russian born 20th Century artist has been described as ‘unclassifiable’, and indeed his works have been varied, from portraits of Margaret Thatcher and Rudolf Nureyev to a series of monumental religious panels for St Paul’s Cathedral. With a nod to Cubism, this tour-de-force of a painting carried striking religious undertones and the scene, heavy with smoke, squalor and temptation, could be interpreted as the seething struggle of hell. Cubism was also apparent in style of a modern sofa, one of a select group of furniture in the sale. After an original design by Wiener Werkstaette designer Josef Hoffmann, the smart white leather sofa comfortably exceeded its estimate, selling for £550. The fashion for Scandinavian 1950s and ‘60s furniture continues unabated, and a set of four teak chairs in the style of Hans Wegner again fetched £550. A group of first edition books with illustrations by Eric Gill attracted interest from a spectrum of collectors, some because of the private press bindings and some for the striking Art Deco line drawings which decorated the pages. The five slim volumes were sold individually to allow private bidders a chance to compete with the trade, with the result that the overall total of £1500 outstripped our cautious estimates. Lucie Rie and Hans Coper have hit the headlines recently because of the six-figure sums achieved for a few of their creations, bringing the world of studio ceramics into the public consciousness. Our October sale offered a broad selection of studio ceramics and glass, catering for all tastes and budgets. We have particular enjoyed watching the rise of John Ward and John Maltby, each of whom has a distinctive style and following, but whose pots are still comparatively affordable. In our auction, a Ward vase of square shape decorated in concentric circles soared to £2,500 while the Japanese-inspired stoneware bowls of John Maltby saw prices in the £150 to £200 range. Maltby’s quirky ship automaton attracted a great deal of admirers at our view day, resulting in a strong hammer price of £380. Once again, we kept down the number of items in a lot to encourage private collectors. The resulting prices more than justified this, and it was rewarding to be able to spotlight individual pieces by such talents as Sheila Fournier, Mary Rogers, Graeme James and Deirdre Burnett.
Hoffmann sofa
Eric Gill
We are planning to hold two stand-alone sales of 20th Century art, design, studio ceramics and glass in 2019. Consignments have already started coming in for the Spring sale, so do get in touch with me if you have anything you might wish to enter. Catrin Hampton John Ward
John Maltby
John Maltby
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INVITATION TO CONSIGN Tuesday 29 & Wednesday 30 January - Country House Sale Since the early 1950s, when it was the subject of three articles by Arthur Oswald in Country Life, the house has been something of a ‘sleeping beauty’. Few outsiders have been over the threshold since then however the Sandys family knew Arthur Negus of Bruton Knowles well and he undertook an inventory of the contents in the 1960s. It is therefore fitting that Chorley’s, which was formed from the Fine Art division of Bruton Knowles in 2006, should now be offering the residual contents of Ombersley (the principal collection having been preserved by the trustees). The items on offer comprise ceramics, rugs, snuff boxes, books and portrait miniatures. Highlights will include a pair of Derby biscuit porcelain groups, circa 1785, one with youths with animals, the other with youths with musical instruments, each around a central tree trunk, these formed part of the display in the gallery above the great hall and ask £1,000-1,500. A good selection of portrait miniatures will include an example by one of the best known miniaturists, Nathaniel Hone (1718-1784). This portrait of a gentleman is set in a gem set gold frame and should achieve £3,000-4,000.
In January 2019 Chorley’s will hold another impressive Country House sale including selected contents from several of the region’s finest properties. The principal offering comes from Grade 1 listed Ombersley Court in Worcestershire which has recently sold for the first time in almost 300 years. Home to the Sandys family since it was built in 1724, this architectural gem looks over traditional parkland and has distant views of the Malvern Hills. Historically it has seen visits from The Duke of Wellington (the 2nd Baron Sandys was one of Wellington’s aides-de-camp at Waterloo) and Dr Samuel Johnson.
Nathaniel Hone Portrait miniature
The dining room at Ombersley was home to an enormous Oushak Turkey carpet, measuring over 8 x 5 metres. Now covering a large part of our saleroom floor, this carries expectations of £2,000-3,000. A small selection of books from the library include Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal, 1782, in two volumes, estimate £8,000-10,000. Further entries to complement this collection of items are invited but the closing date is fast approaching, so please get in touch before Christmas if you are considering selling something.
Selection of enamel snuff boxes
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