PAINTINGS Treasures are hall for sale
If you urgently need to kit out a mansion, this auction is your one-stop shop
HERE’S a curious conundrum: an anonymous buyer pays a reported £8m to purchase one of Britain’s finest stately homes with the avowed intent to restore it for his young family and the local community as “a model of how an important historic estate such as this can be managed, in the 21st century”. Then he announces he is to auction off its contents.
Perhaps he’s not a fan of fine 18th-century English and continental furniture, tapestries, paintings, porcelain and works of art, whatever the explanation, 200 lots from the extraordinary Grade 1-listed Mawley Hall will be sold on September 11-12.
It will be sad to see the interiors of what has been described as Shropshire’s Baroque masterpiece stripped of their treasures, but that’s progress I suppose. The flip side is that dealers and collectors will rejoice at the opportunity offered by the sale at Cambridge auctioneers Cheffins.
Cheffins director Luke Macdonald said: “We are expecting a lot of interest in the Mawley Hall consignment, given the high quality of the lots on offer and that they are fresh to the market. The consignment augments a strong catalogue at one of our flagship sales of the year.”
Among the expected highlights from the consignment are:
IN FURNITURE AND FURNISHINGS
■ A mid-18th century Altona Padouk and parcel gilt bombe secretaire cabinet, 271cm high, estimate £15,000-£25,000
■ George I carved pinewood serpentine console table, 128cm wide, £4,000-£6,000
■ George III mahogany ‘Chinese Chippendale’ longcase clock, by Henry Hindley, York, £2,500 - £4,000 ■ Louis XV Aubusson verdure tapestry, 280cm x 381cm, £2,000£4,000,
■ Zeigler carpet, circa 1880, 774cm x 462cm, £10,000 -£15,000
PAINTINGS
■ Johannes Bosschaert (Dutch, 16061629). A stone urn on steps decorated with flowers and fruit beside a dolphin-headed spouting fountain in an extensive landscape, oil on canvas, estimate £20,000-£30,000
■ Henryk Cieszkowski (Polish, 19th century), The Colosseum, Rome, signed, inscribed and dated H Cieszkowski, Roma, 1874, oil on canvas, 69cm x 132cm, £3,000-£5,000 ■ Attributed to Jakob Bogdani (Hungarian, 1660-1724), a Muscovy duck, mallard, shelduck, pochard, and a ruff with a kingfisher in a river landscape, oil on canvas, £4,000£6,000
■ European School, circa 1700, an equestrian portrait traditionally said to be Muhammad ben Haddu, oil on canvas, £3,000-£5,000
■ Follower of Jacob Bunel (French, 1558-1614), portrait of King Henri IV of France (1553-1610), standing full-length, in black, wearing the insignia of the Order of Saint-Esprit, at a green-covered table, his hand upon a letter, £3,000-£5,000
■ Chinese export armorial part dinner service, Qianlong (1736-95), the central arms of Watts impaling Carter surrounded by flowers and family motto ‘Pour la Foy’ on a cartouche below, with the crest of a greyhound holding a spear, estimate £5,000£8,000
■ Tournai plate, circa 1763, painted in puce by Michel-Joseph Duvivier,
the central vignette with a coastal scene with a galleon setting sail and a group of figures in the foreground, £1,000-£2,000
WORKS OF ART
■ Set of four Louis XVI style ormolu three-branch wall-lights, in the manner of Gouthiere, each backplate with musical trophy, satyr mask, garlands, serpent and ribbon-tied drapery with ram’s mask finial, estimate £1,500-£2,500
■ Set of four Regency toleware tea canisters, decorated with Chinese characters and numbered, fitted as lamps, £1,000-£1,500
■ Early 19th-century Régence-style ormolu 10-branch chandelier, by Johnston Brooks & Co, believed to be a matching pair at Burghley House. Supplied in 1823, estimate £7,000£10,000
Architectural historian Jeremy Musson describes Mawley as “one of the most extraordinary early 18th century country houses in England”.
The imposing 12-bedroom Palladian mansion near Cleobury Mortimer on the Shropshire Worcestershire border, was designed by Francis Smith of Warwick or possibly Thomas White of Worcester for Sir Edward Blount, the 4th Baronet and built with local bricks between 1728 and 1730.
Stone dressings, keystones over the windows, narrow giant order Doric pilasters, and classical figures and urns on the parapets are the only hint of extravagance outside but as Musson points out, “the stately exterior does little to prepare the visitor for the astonishing interiors, which are among the finest and best-preserved of their period in England.”
If money was saved by building in brick, it was lavished inside apparently free of budget constraints, funded probably by the generous dowry of Lady Apollonia Blount (née Throckmorton).
“Especially remarkable is the stucco decoration, depicting busts, beguiling mythological figures, and, in the hall, a vast flowing ‘trophy’ of arms and armour, all said to be by Italian-speaking stuccador, Francesco Vassalli – who often worked with James Gibbs,” Musson notes.
“The glorious freestanding staircase has a wave-like handrail with no obvious English precedent and encapsulates the baroque love of movement.
“There is also a fine inlaid room with its unique marquetry panels.”
An entry in the diary of Mrs Philip Lybbe Powys (Caroline Powys 1756-1808) of Hardwicke House, Oxfordshire, who visited Mawley in 1771, reads: “The floors are most of them inlaid like those of the Queen’s palace as is the grand staircase; that and the hall being exceedingly pleasant.
“Each room is carved in the most expensive taste... the library, eatingroom and large drawing room all good”.
Interestingly, in 1960, the property was bought at auction for £15,500 by JE Talbot, MP for Brierley Hill, who planned to demolish and replace it.
However, the Ministry of Works intervened, and it was saved by Anthony Galliers-Pratt and his wife, Angela, daughter of Sir Charles Cayzer, 3rd Bt., who bought the estate in 1961 and carried out a total restoration.
■ Sale viewing is on September 8-10. Further information: Cheffins, telephone 01223 213343.