£2,750
Scottish Silver & Applied Arts | 568
Auction: 14 August 2019 at 11:00 BST
built by A. J. Berry Robinson, for Mr W. Adams, the ship supplied to The Commissioners of The Northern Lighthouse Board, in a brass framed glazed display case with engraved plaque
Note: PHAROS VII was in service with The Northern Lighthouse Board from launch in 1909 to 1955. Built by Wm. Beardmore & Co. Ltd Glasgow. It was broken up in Charlestown, Fife by Shipbreaking Industries Ltd.
Beardmores were one of many large shipbuilders on the Clyde. At their peak they employed around 40,000 workers. Their original industry was steel forging but in 1900 they took over Napier and sons in Govan and moved into the shipbuilding industry, however they were also known for the production of cars and motorcycles as well as a variation on the 'London Black Taxi'
The duties of the PHAROS VII like all others owned before and since include the delivery of stores and supplies, buoy working and the replacement ships now have the added statutory inspection of the navigation aids on oil rigs in the Scottish sector.
These model ships (Lots 197-199) and paintings (lots 200-204) form part of a collection, of which the remaining examples will be included in the Five Centuries sale on September 4th 2019. They formed an all-round display in the previous owner's home which had a wide view over the Forth, underlining his interest in the sea, shipbuilding and ships. There is a surprising contrast between the finely detailed and accurately rendered ships models in the collection and the group of paintings by Malcolm Cheape which are quite free in their execution. Cheape however was also keen to research his subject thoroughly, not only in the configuration of the ships but also in the accuracy of the surroundings into which they are set.
Cheape graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee in 1987 and has worked widely in Scotland and London ever since. His subject matter is drawn almost exclusively from the sea. His distinctive style combines paint, ink, pencil marks, paper and tape and are multi-layered pieces that are held in a number of private and public collections.
William Adam, who commissioned these works was Leith born and bred and wanted to own scale models of the ships that he knew. He met Alan Berry-Robinson in London in 2008 and commissioned a model of SS Gothland in 2009, shortly followed by SS Pharos and SS Sunniva in 2010. All were built in the builder's-model style with gilded/silvered deck fittings on a carved timber hull, from original plans and photographs and, of course, Bill's memory. The last commission was for MS Hubert in 2015.
Alan Berry-Robinson has been restoring and building ship models for the past 30 years for dealers, private collectors and Museums in the UK and overseas.