AUCTION HOUSE HIGHLIGHTS

Charming Chairs

Sold for £23,000.

At £23,000 for the pair, the padouk chairs shown here are an expensive way to take the weight off your feet, but they nonetheless excited a lot of interest when they were sold at Elstob & Elstob in 2019.

“Chairs made in China to English designs are very rare,” says David, “so these two, which came out of a country house in Lancashire, were a good find – and a surprise to the seller, who had no idea what they were.”

Padouk is an African and Asian hardwood valued for its toughness, stability and decorative quality – it has a unique reddishorange colour that darkens with time – and it is an important timber in traditional Chinese furniture-making. In this case it has been used to recreate a design by Giles Grendey, one of the best-known cabinetmakers of his era, complete with cabriole legs, carved shells and ball-and-claw feet.

Splendid Sculpture

“Works of art featuring horses or dogs are always strong sellers in this part of the world,” says David. “Last autumn, for example, we sold a very fine bronze by Yorkshire sculptor Sally Arnup for £10,000.

“Sally, who died in 2015, worked from a studio in Holtby, near York, and specialised in animal subjects. You can see several examples of her work in York Art Gallery.

“This piece, which stands over a metre high, plinth not included, is notable for being one of her larger works. Even though it is marked as number four out of an edition of five, it appears that only three were actually made.”

The studio that Sally shared with her husband Mick is now home to a group of six artists, including their daughter Hannah. For more information about auctions at Elstob & Elstob visit elstobandelstob.co.uk or call 01765 699200.