A musician whose husband worked for a Swiss bank, Turner enjoyed a lifelong passion for Doulton Lambeth wares and bought fine-quality pieces at auction and through dealers across more than 40 years.
Her house in Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire was adorned floor to ceiling with her collection.
The clock case, modelled as a nautilus shell supported by cherubs riding seahorses, is an 1878 design by George Tinworth with the incised decoration of gulls and other seabirds done by Hannah Barlow.
The distinctive crack and staining to the dial suggest it is the same clock sold for £3400 at Cotswolds auction house Moore Allen & Innocent in 2015. Another version resides at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney.
Tinworth worked for Doulton from 1867 until his death in 1913, at the age of 70.
He produced a series of whimsical clock cases during his long tenure including the Menagerie Clock, the most ambitious of all the ‘Tinworth mouse’ groups. An example that appeared for sale at Chilcotts in Honiton in January took £9200.
Solid sellers
Doulton mouse musicians group by Tinworth, £4000 at Sworders.
Tinworth mice groups remain the most reliable collecting niche within the Doulton Lambeth market.
The series of musicians offered at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet on May 16 included a menu holder modelled as two mice playing a harp and a piano with the inscribed date 1886. Made in moulds then finished by hand, all of these groups were duplicates but this is a rarity.
Filling a gap in a collection, one online bidder offered £4000 (estimate £400-600).
Doulton Tinworth stoneware triple ‘Mouse Musicians’ group, £2400 at Sworders.
Other musicians groups included a version of three mice, one playing a pipe, one at the piano, and the other singing (£2400), and a lot of two menu holders, one modelled as two mice playing a musical box and a triangle, the other with two mice playing a violin and a tambourine (£3200).
Marshall models
Doulton Lambeth centrepiece by Mark Marshall, £6500 at Sworders.
The other Doulton stoneware strong suit is the work of Mark Marshall, whose best grotesque modelling rivals that of former employer Robert Wallace Martin.
The Turner sale included a large centrepiece modelled as a menacing lizard climbing on a curling blue leaf. It had some small chips to the extremities but at 18in (45cm) wide it had a lot of presence. Estimated at a modest £300-500, it took £6500.
Doulton Lambeth spill vase by Mark Marshall, £2600 at Sworders.
Also by Marshall – and another one of his more experimental pieces – was a 9in (23cm) high spill vase modelled as a tree stump with a slithering snake, surmounted by a terrier. Again with imperfections, it sold at £2600 (estimate £500-700).
