An 18th century Dutch pollard oak bureau bookcase with bombe four-drawer base owned by Meredith Etherington-Smith, estimate £800-1200 at Bellmans.
Bellmans is selling a selection of works of art, furniture and fashion items belonging to Meredith Etherington-Smith (1946-2020), the British fashion and art journalist and biographer, at the February 21-23 auction in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.
Etherington-Smith started her career as a journalist in the 1960s, worked as the London editor for Vogue Paris in the 1970s, and for a year was the only female editor of GQ in the US and deputy and features editor at Harpers & Queen in London from 1983.
By the early 1990s she was the founder of Art Fortnight, edited ArtReview and Artinfo.com. She was editor-in-chief of Christie’s Magazine and was not only closely involved with the famous Diana, Princess of Wales, charity clothes auction at Christie’s in 1997, but also the 1999 Marilyn Monroe, the 2009 Yves Saint Laurent, the 2011 Elizabeth Taylor and the 2015 Margaret Thatcher auctions.
Shown above is an 18th century Dutch pollard oak bureau bookcase with bombe four-drawer base, 4ft 4in wide x 23in deep x 7ft 1in high (1.32m x 58cm x 2.17m), estimated at £800-1200.
English mural livery cupboard probably made in the West Country (Devon) in the 1580s, estimate £5000-8000 at Bishop & Miller.
The majority of English period mural livery cupboards date to the 17th century and it is rare to find a 16th century example.
This one, probably made in the West Country (Devon) in the 1580s has a guide of £5000-8000 as part of The Oak Interior sale at Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket on February 23. The 3ft 3in (97cm) cupboard has a provenance to Doughton Manor, Gloucestershire.
A stained-glass window of St Margaret of Antioch by Pre-Raphaelite and Arts & Crafts designer Sir Edward Burne-Jones, estimate £15,000-20,000 at Tennants.
A stained-glass window of St Margaret of Antioch by Pre-Raphaelite and Arts & Crafts designer Sir Edward Burne-Jones is on offer in Tennants’ 20th Century Design Sale on March 4.
The vast majority of his stained-glass windows remain in their original buildings.
This example was designed by Burne-Jones but made and sold by Morris & Co.
St Margaret was a subject Burne-Jones returned to repeatedly, creating numerous variations. The first was made for St Peter’s Church in Bramley, West Yorkshire, which is recorded in the Morris & Co Catalogue of Designs for Stained Glass, and 16 others are known today.
However, Tennants states the closest match to the present panel is in a watercolour design in the Huntington Library collection in California for three windows of female saints for All Saints Church in Winnipeg, Canada. An inscription on the drawing by its previous owner, architect Sanford Berger, notes that only the central panel of St Hilda was completed and installed, and indeed the window still resides in the church’s Lady Chapel.
Estimate £15,000-20,000.
Niue Island barkcloth, estimate £6000-8000 at Woolley & Wallis.
The sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on February 22 titled Art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas includes this 8ft x 11ft 11in (2.44 x 3.64m) Niue Island barkcloth.
The making of cloth from tree bark on the small Polynesian island nation of Niue involved the soaking, beating and fermentation of fibres that were held together in sheets with a starch paste. Any decoration was hand painted, in this case with 40 squares, each with a radiating dash design in blue and black pigment.
From a US East Coast collection, it has an estimate of £6000-8000.
Delftware dish, dated 1682 and painted in blue and yellow with a portrait of Catherine of Braganza, estimate £2000-3000 at Woolley & Wallis.
The W&W sale of Fine Pottery & Porcelain on February 21 features a 9in (23cm) delftware dish, dated 1682 and painted in blue and yellow with a portrait of Catherine of Braganza. This rare dish, broken and cleanly restored, is one pictured in Lipski and Archer’s Dated English Delftware where it says it was formerly in the collection of the Earl of Clarendon.
Estimate £2000-3000.
Chapter XVIII When Jesus had spoken… by Matthias Buchinger, signed and dated 18th May 1721, Cork, estimate £500-800 at Thomson Roddick Callan.
A local Edinburgh vendor, unaware of the fame of Matthias Buchinger (1674-1740), consigned a drawing by the artist to Thomson Roddick Callan for its Edinburgh sale on February 16.
Buchinger was born without hands or lower legs and nicknamed the ‘Little Man of Nuremberg’. Despite not having fingers he had amazing dexterity, excelling in many endeavours and was a highly skilled calligrapher, modelmaker, musician, magician and marksman.
Born in Germany, he travelled around Europe and died while in Cork, Ireland, having fathered at least 14 children during his lifetime.
This 5in x 3.4in (12cm x 9cm) ink drawing, Chapter XVIII When Jesus had spoken…, is signed and dated 18th May 1721, Cork and estimated at £500-800.
A 1933 poster for Heal’s Exhibition of Metal & Glass… Furniture in their Mansard Gallery, estimate £200-300 at W&H Peacock.
The sale of Mid-Century Design at W&H Peacock in Bedford on February 17 includes, estimated at £200-300, this 1933 poster for Heal’s Exhibition of Metal & Glass… Furniture in their Mansard Gallery.
It was designed by Norman Weaver (1913-89) whose first job was in the cabinet making department of Heal’s of Tottenham Court Road.
After two years he became Heal’s manuscript writer and calligrapher and during the Second World War worked for the Ordnance Survey as a cartographic trade hand.
Cold painted bronze of an ibis with its prey in its beak after the French animalier sculptor Paul-Édouard Delabrièrre, estimate £600-1000 at Dreweatts.
The Interiors sale at Dreweatts in Newbury on February 21-22 includes, estimated at £600-1000, this 7in (18cm) high cold painted bronze of an ibis with its prey in its beak.
The model is after the French animalier sculptor Paul-Édouard Delabrièrre (1829-1912).
English school oil on panel painting of a village cricket match, estimate £6000-9000 at Lyon & Turnbull.
The Five Centuries sale at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on February 22-23 includes this 43 x 71cm (17 x 28in) English school oil on panel painting of a village cricket match.
Dated to c.1830, it shows the players wearing looser trousers (the norm aster c.1820) but still bowling underarm (something that had largely disappeared by the 1840s.
There are three known grounds that had trees within the boundary, the most celebrated of which was the ‘St Lawrence Lime’ at Canterbury Cricket Ground which eventually blew down in 2005.
Estimate £6000-9000.
The Raising of Lazarus: The Small Plate, print by Rembrandt van Rijn, the first state of two issued in 1642, estimate £5000-7000 at Forum.
An overseas collection of prints by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) comes for sale at Forum Auctions in London on February 24.
It includes this very good impression of The Raising of Lazarus: The Small Plate, the first state of two issued in 1642.
Possibly formerly with Colnaghi & Co, London, it has a guide of £5000-7000.
Early 20th century sapphire and diamond ring, estimate £6000-10,000 at Trevanion.
This sapphire and diamond ring was found in a box of costume jewellery that had been consigned to Trevanion in Shropshire from a local lady who had inherited it from her mother.
Trevanion’s jewellery specialist Helena Waudby said: “The lady thought that the entire contents were costume jewellery, and of little value. However, as we dug our way through piles of beads and bangles, we discovered quite a number of treasures. The owner had travelled extensively and had a fascinating range of pieces, including antique and modern examples.”
The early 20th century natural 13.8ct oval cabochon sapphire (with accompanying Gemmological Certification Services report) is from Myanmar (Burma) and surrounded by 26 single-cut diamonds. It has an estimate of £6000-10,000 at the February 15 auction.
Early 1965 Pedigree Sindy doll wearing a Weekenders outfit, estimate £50-80 at Mitchells.
Mitchells’ Vintage & Antique Toy & Model Sale in Cockermouth, Cumbria, on February 16 features several private collections. This early 1965 Pedigree Sindy doll wearing a Weekenders outfit, one of several Pedigree Sindy doll lots, is estimated at £50-80.
A 15th or 16th century gold posy ring, a buckled belt loop, inscribed to the exterior and interior Hope Is Mi Holde Till Hap Shall Helpe, estimate £15,000-20,000 at TimeLine.
This 15th or 16th century gold posy ring, a buckled belt loop, is inscribed to the exterior and interior Hope Is Mi Holde Till Hap Shall Helpe.
Rings with amatory inscriptions have their origins in the 14th century when they served as love gifts, betrothal and wedding rings. Posy rings were also given to friends or used to mark significant occasions. The enigmatic inscription to this one does not seem to have been previously recorded on a posy ring;
Found with a metal detector near Hursley, Hampshire, in 2012, it was acquired by the East Sussex vendor from Hatton Garden dealership Berganza. The ring now has a guide of £15,000-20,000 at TimeLine Auctions in Harwich on February 21.
Four Drummers Drumming, a hand-operated automaton by Tony Mann from the Sir Nicholas Goodison collection, estimate £300-500 at Roseberys.
South London saleroom Roseberys is offering automata and moving toys from the collection of the late Sir Nicholas Goodison (1934-2021) on February 21.
Sir Nicholas had a presence in the worlds of banking and the arts: he was chairman of the London Stock Exchange (1976-86), chairman of the TSB Group (1988-95), and deputy chair of Lloyds TSB (1995-2000). He chaired leading cultural institutions such as the Courtauld (1982-2002), the Art Fund (1986-2002), and the Crafts Council (1997-2005).
The sale includes hundreds of traditional mechanical and hand-operated toys from many countries, including Britain, Germany, China and Japan, ranging from commercial toys dating from the 1950s onwards, to major contemporary pieces. They were collected by Sir Nicholas over a 50-year period from 1953 during his extensive worldwide travels.
Leading the collection are over 50 pieces by key figures who were central to the renaissance of automata making in the UK such as Peter Markey, Tony Mann, Robert Race, Keith Newstead and Ron Fuller.
Shown here is Four Drummers Drumming, a hand-operated automaton by Tony Mann (1927-2013). It is constructed in painted wood, tin cans, brass bell, nails, wire, sewing machine and Meccano wheels, rubber, and is signed and dated Tony Mann ‘01 to the front and Tony Mann ‘01 Four Drummers Drumming to the reverse. Purchased at the British Toymakers’ Guild exhibition, November 2001, it is now estimated at £300-500.
Vienna (du Paquier) porcelain beer tankard, c.1730-40, estimate £1500-2000 at Roseberys.
The same Fine & Decorative sale at Roseberys also includes the Robert Vater collection of European Ceramics put together in the 20th century. This wide-ranging academic collection includes representative examples from many of the key manufactories and pottery centres from the Renaissance to the early 19th century.
This Vienna (du Paquier) porcelain beer tankard, c.1730-40 is guided at £1500-2000. It is painted en grisaille and with flesh tones with two figures seated by a tree.
Sets of similar tankards were made at Vienna, at a time when most were formed of stoneware, pottery or metal.
