Star Sales
Six key lots from auction houses around the country have caught Caroline Wheater’s eye this month… Plus three more hammer prices to guess
Child’s Play Estimate £ , -£ , Sold £ , 6
If you’ve visited the Chris Beetles Gallery in London, you’ll know that illustration is an active collecting eld, continuing the legacy of the likes of Arthur Rackham and Mabel Lucie A well. The illustrator Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) was a top children’s author of the 20th century. This lot, consigned to Bonhams by Ardizzone’s descendants, is the complete original artwork for the book
Tim to the Rescue, published in 1949 by the Oxford University Press – the third title in his Li le
Tim series. The stories were inspired by Ardizzone’s love of ships and the sea, and drew on memories of growing up in Ipswich on the Su olk coast. This cache comprised 23 original watercolours, including cover design and title page, and 24 black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations, all with text in the artist’s hand.
Employed as a war artist between 1940 and 1945, over 400 of his sketches, plus his wartime diaries, are held at the Imperial War Museum. Post-war, he had a long and distinguished career as an illustrator, creating artworks for Stig of the Dump, The Land of Green Ginger and Graham Greene’s Li le books. 020 7447 7447; bonhams.com
Beautiful Veneers Estimate £ , -£ , Sold £8,
Dating to the late 17th century, a handsome Dutch oyster veneered kingwood cabinet on stand was one of the stars of Duke’s Winter Fine Art sale. Behind the doors that were decorated with laburnum and walnut wood veneers sat 10 hidden drawers, one of them a devotional compartment – perhaps for keeping a prayer book or a cross. The paired stand is of a later date and displays a central scallop shell – a symbol for fertility – and trailing grapevines. 01305 265080; dukes-auctions.com
. Wise One Estimate £ -£ Sold £
John Gould (1804-1881) was one of the most skilled ornithological artists of the 19th century, and this parcel lot, featuring four of his lithographs, c1850, sold at Dominic Winter recently. The subject was raptors and included a mo led wood owl, or Syrnium ocellatum, a native bird of India, si ing on a bough. The lithographs were hand-coloured and had been published in Gould’s monumental works, Birds of Asia, Birds of Great
Britain and Birds of Europe.
01285 860006; dominicwinter.co.uk
. Bowled Over Estimate £ , -£ , Sold £ ,
A small chip to the rim didn’t harm the desirability of an 18thcentury Chinese bowl at a recent Dawson’s Fine Arts sale. The Qing dynasty ceramic, dating to the time of the Qianlong Emperor, was perhaps a tea bowl, measuring 13cm in diameter and 6.5cm tall. The porcelain piece was hand-decorated with auspicious ower heads, such as peony and chrysanthemum, linked by scrolling tendrils, all set o by a coral red glaze.
01628 944100; dawsonsauctions.co.uk
. Hop To It Estimate £ , -£ , Sold £ ,
Antique Australian jewellery has a naturalistic style and o en features symbolic native owers and animals. At specialist jewellery auctioneers Fellows, such pieces have become increasingly sought a er. Take this 18-carat gold and seed pearl brooch, which depicts a kangaroo and an emu si ing among bush owers, probably the blooms of waratah and the common annel ower. Made in the mid 19th century, it wouldn’t look out of place on a jacket lapel today.
0121 212 2131; fellows.co.uk
. Feet Forward Estimate $ -$6 Sold $ ,
In the 19th century, leather riding boots were an investment and would have been well looked a er. Boot trees made from stained beechwood were used to keep the shape and form of boots, inserted while they were not in use. This pair of late 19th-century trees, which sold at Sotheby’s recently, would make a striking door stop or a decorative addition to a hall or si ing room. These boot stoppers were part of the Mario Bua a: Prince of Interiors sale – see p120 for our feature.
020 7293 5000; sothebys.com