A Lucie Rie 1980s footed bowl, estimate £20,000-30,000 at at Chiswick Auctions.
1. Lucie Rie bowl
Items given by studio potter Lucie Rie (1902-95) to her cleaning lady come for sale at the Design and Modern Contemporary sale at Chiswick Auctions on March 29. Two bowls and a mould for making buttons were all presents to the vendor’s mother who worked at Rie’s home and studio at 18 Albion Mews, Paddington, for many years.
It was during and after the war that, to make ends meet, Rie made glass and ceramic buttons and jewellery for couture fashion outlets. She was employed by her fellow countryman and emigrée Fritz Lampl (1892-1955), the founder of the Bimini Glass company in Vienna who relaunched his glass-blowing venture in Soho under the name Orplid in 1938.
Mould for making buttons given by Lucie Rie to her cleaner, estimate £400-600 at Chiswick Auctions.
The two-piece plaster mould offered here, has the number 315 and a carved Bimini mark. Dated to the 1940s or 50s, it is estimated at £400-600.
Also gifted by Rie to her cleaner was a trademark 1980s footed bowl in a turquoise and manganese glaze (estimate £20,000-30,000) and a heavily potted experimental piece with a similar glaze (estimate £400-600).
2. Fabergé brooch
Fabergé gold, red guilloché enamel and diamond brooch, c.1900-08, estimate £2000-3000 at Roseberys.
The Lyon & Turnbull jewellery sale in London on March 29 includes this Fabergé gold, red guilloché enamel and diamond brooch, c.1900-08.
The brooch, in a tapering Art Nouveau form, comes for sale from the estate of Major General Sir John Swinton. It had been a gift to his mother Mariora Erskine from her godmother, Queen Marie of Romania.
Estimate £2000-3000.
3. Glasgow School needlework panel
Attributed to Helen Adelaide Lamb, this Glasgow School needlework panel, c.1910, is estimated at £600-800 at Aldridges of Bath.
Attributed to Helen Adelaide Lamb (1893- 1981), this Glasgow School needlework panel, c.1910, is estimated at £600-800 in the Aldridges of Bath Fine Art & Antiques auction on March 28.
It depicts a maiden in a flower garden, a fruit tree with doves either side, all within floral borders, worked in coloured silks on a pale green ground, and measures 14in x 3ft 7in (35.5cm x 1.09m) without the frame.
The auction house says that a similar piece of needlework by Lamb is held in the V&A, “which is almost identical to the central design depicted in the piece we have”. It is thought this design by Lamb was published in Vol 41 of The Studio – An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art published in 1910.
4. Gillows tables
Pair of George III satinwood, purpleheart and rosewood oval Pembroke tables attributed to Gillows, c.1780, estimate £6000-10,000 at Dreweatts.
This pair of George III satinwood, purpleheart and rosewood oval Pembroke tables attributed to Gillows c.1780 were previously owned by Nelson Rockefeller and were sold at Christie’s New York in October 2010. They were hammered then at $48,000.
The tables, unusual as a pair, come back to auction as part of the furniture and works of art sale at Dreweatts in Newbury on March 29 with a guide of £6000-10,000.
A very similar table to these can be seen at Tatton Park in Cheshire, one of the best surviving Gillows interiors.
5. Creamware jug
Creamware jug with print of Nelson, estimate £300-400 at Keys.
The Fine sale at Keys in Aylsham, Norfolk, on March 29-31 includes this rare creamware jug with prints of Nelson including one titled Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe in the County of Norfolk.
Estimate £300-400.
