Star Sales
From rare del ware and mid-century furniture to maritime watercolour art, Caroline Wheater chooses her highlights from recent auctions
1. Rare decoration on London Delft Estimate £400-£600 each Sold for £2,500 (left) and £2,900 (right)
From the early 1600s, the potters of Delft in the Netherlands produced tin-glazed earthenwares inspired by Chinese blue and white porcelain. This type of pottery is known as delftware and was prized by the Dutch middle classes for its affordability. When Dutch potters settled in London, they brought the idea with them and began producing English delft in Aldgate, Lambeth, Southwark and Vauxhall, making plates, dishes and drug jars. These two plates are attributed to the Vauxhall pottery and date to c1750. Not only is the polychromatic (or multi-coloured) decoration more unusual than blue and white, but the 22.5cm diameter plates are decorated with a rare depiction of a pot kiln. ‘I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and, though I’ve seen chinoiserie patterns and buildings pictured on English Del", I’ve never seen a $ring pot kiln,’ says Hall’s Fine Art Director, Jeremy Lamond. The twin plates, which had been in the same collection for over 30 years, sold at the auction house in November to a specialist dealer who attended the sale in person to secure both lots. 01743 450700; hallsgb.com/fine-art
2. All in bloom Estimate £2,000-£3,000 Sold £2,750
At over half a metre tall, this impressive baluster-shaped vase dates to c1760 and was designed to grace the home of a wealthy family. It was made by the Meissen factory in Germany, the first European pottery to produce hard paste porcelain good enough to rival Chinese examples. JJ Kaendler, one of the factory’s most illustrious craftsmen, is thought to have modelled the encrusted decoration of handmade and hand-painted %owers, stems and leaves. 020 7839 9060; christies.com
3. Debonair pair Estimate £300-£500 Sold £600
Danish wooden furniture from the 1950s and 1960s continues to sell well at auction, offering excellent value to buyers seeking mid-century style. Matching pairs are always very sought after and the bidding for these smart teak chairs quickly ramped up in the salesroom as buyers locked horns to win them. Upholstered with button-back black vinyl cushions, they were generally in good condition, with light wear reflective of their age and domestic use. 01223 213343; cheffins.co.uk
4. Age and elegance Estimate £500-£700 Sold £687
Fashionable in its day, this oval George III silver teapot bears the maker’s mark ‘WB’ and was made in London in 1783 according to its hallmarks. With bright-cut silverwork decoration, the wooden handle has the mellow appearance of age and the lid bears a pretty pineapple finial to signify hospitality and welcome. This beautiful object, which weighs 411g in total, is also engraved with the arms of the Denny family of Waltham Abbey, Essex. 020 7447 7447; bonhams.com
5. On the open seas Estimate £500-£700 Sold £460
Auctions bristle with wonderful paintings, many of them very reasonably priced, such as this "ne maritime watercolour by the Reverend Calvert Richard Jones. Eton and Oxford educated, the artist (1802-1877) was the son of a Welsh landowner and became an accomplished marine painter, draughtsman and photographer. He inscribed the 16cm x 24cm painting: ‘Mary of Poole from Chile with copper ore in Swansea Bay, Nov 9th 1819’. 01223 213343; cheffins.co.uk
6. Salon style Estimate £500-£700 Sold £875
It was the French aristocracy who introduced the salon sofa to enable sociable encounters between guests. The look of this 19th-century design draws on that aesthetic, but is determinedly late 18th-century English in style, with no-nonsense square straight legs on brass castors and a modest serpentine padded back with 64cm deep cushion seat. The sofa was consigned as part of the contents of a Scottish country house that went up for sale in January. 0131 557 8844; lyonandturnbull.com