Thus, while only eight of some 50
pastels and prints found buyers there was tremendous interest in the catalogue cover item – the c.1750 stoneware Jacobite jug shown right.
Just 31/2in (9cm) tall, the jug was
primitively painted with a kilted Scotsman thought to be Bonnie Prince Charlie; ‘The King Over The Water’. Similar examples of such three-footed jugs with strap handles have been documented and this one lived up to the high hopes of the auctioneers selling over estimate at £5400.
Best seller among the furniture was, as expected, an Edwardian mahogany and satinwood-banded display cabinet with central glazed door flanked by mirror-backed shelves which sold just under
estimate at £2950.
There were some encouraging bids among the 120 or so lots of furniture – more than 70 per cent of which sold – including above-estimate bids for fairly standard pieces like a c.1820 rosewood work table with a 19in (48cm) square top above two long drawers and sliding bag which more than doubled top hopes at £2200, and a Regency mahogany Pembroke table banded in satinwood and rosewood which took £1300 against top estimate of £1000.
A little more out of the ordinary was a c.1880 French mahogany centre table with 2ft 6in (76cm) diameter top with cube parquetry and brass rim above a frieze applied with deeply cast relief panels of Bacchus and goats and with a single drawer. On cabriole legs with cast ram masks and paw sabots, it doubled the top
estimate to take £2000.
Bonnie Prince Charlie to the rescue
CHESHIRE auctioneers Peter Wilson, (15% buyer’s premium) found it hard going at their November 27-28 sale at Nantwich with only 60 per cent of the 720 lots getting away – but where obvious quality was on offer, bidders were keen enough.
