A few ‘diamonds’ here

PORCELAIN, JEWELLERY: FIND A REAL GEM AT THIS MARQUEE AUCTION Three-day sale starts on Sunday and a highlight is an exceptional ring.

Two remarkable single-owner collections of Chinese porcelain and works of art, one assembled by a storied Plettenberg Bay family, the other drawn from the property of a lady connoisseur with an exclusive period focus, will go under the hammer in Strauss & Co’s first marquee sale of 2021.

The three-day sale, includes a day devoted to the decorative arts and jewellery on Monday next week. Highlights from the three sessions include an exceptional diamond ring, featuring a flawless emerald-cut diamond weighing 2.55 carats, and a Cape silver commemorative cup, awarded to a Burgher Cavalry officer in 1805.

The Property of a Connoisseur comprises 16 lots, dating from the mid-17th to mid-18th centuries and includes a richly decorated famille-verte Chinese rouleau vase (estimate R280 000 – R320 000) and rare famille-verte dish enamelled with the Chinese deity Magu beside a cart, bearing gifts of longevity, luck and happiness (estimate R450 000 – R550 000). Many of the works in this exacting collection, such as a Chinese celadon-glazed brush pot with incised motifs (estimate R200 000 – R250 000), were acquired from reputable English and Swiss dealers, like Bernheimer Fine Arts and John Sparks.

“It is both extremely unusual and extraordinarily difficult to pursue collecting with such concentrated focus,” says Vanessa Phillips, joint managing director and an expert in porcelain.

“The quality of the individual lots in this consignment bears testament to a discerning eye of a patient collector.”

The 34-lot Jerling Estate blue-andwhite Kraak porcelain collection is similarly noteworthy for its precise focus.

Identifiable by its distinctive underglaze of cobalt blue, Chinese export porcelain in the Kraak style has long been a pedigreed collectable.

The Portuguese trade in Chinese porcelain traces its origins to the late 1500s. Not long afterwards, in 1630, the São Gonçalo, one of the great merchant ships of Portugal’s naval age, sank with a payload of Chinese porcelain while at anchor in Bahia Formosa, now Plettenberg Bay.

Centuries later Peter and Della Jerling – descendants of Johann Jacob Jerling, a former cobbler with the Dutch East India Company and the first free burgher to settle east of the Keurbooms River – discovered shards of porcelain from the São Gonçalo deposited in the dunes along the Plettenberg Bay coastline.

The discovery activated a lifelong interest in collecting.

The Jerlings also acquired many extant examples of Kraak ware.

Highlights from the Jerling Collection include Ming Dynasty dishes from the Wanli period.

Lot 169 is decorated with eight ducks before a riverscape (estimate R30 000 – R40 000) and lot 170 features auspicious symbols enclosed by a diaper frame (estimate R35 000 – R50 000), both measure roughly 50cm in diameter.

Also from the Jerling Collection, lot 166 is a large bowl from the Jingdezhen region, decorated with a seated maiden (estimate R40 000 – R60 000).

Lot 178 is a Ming Dynasty pouring vessel (estimate R10 000 – R15 000) and lot 182 is a Qing Dynasty cylindrical brush pot decorated with a bird perched on a blossoming branch (estimate R20 000 – R25 000).

Eights lots of fine Cape silver include a silver presentation box by Peter Clarke Daniel (estimate R20 000 – R30 000) with an inscription detailing the struggles of the Cape’s early Lutheran settlers.

“The sadness of the decision by Peter and Della’s two sons to part with their collection, which was a central part of their home while growing up, is offset by the hope that it will be treasured by another family who will derive as much pleasure from it as they have for many years to come,” says Phillips. “The remarkable quality of both single-owner collections of Chinese porcelain and works of art is borne out by the large number of condition reports we have already received.”

The final session of the day covers furniture and silver.

English silversmiths have consistently featured in Strauss & Co’s auction sales since 2009.

This sale will commence on Sunday. The sale of all the lots mentioned here will take place on Monday next week.

The sale will be livestreamed to bidders from sales venues in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

There is an option to bid in person at either venue.

Covid-19 safety protocols will apply throughout.