Our May 2023 edition of Five Centuries features an exciting selection of rare and unique furniture, paintings and works of art, including specialist collecting areas encompassing clocks, bronzes, ceramics & glass, rugs & carpets.
Ahead of the sale our team has chosen a few of their favourite things to share as highlights from our auction...
With so many tempting options, to choose one favourite lot is always a difficulty, so for this Five Centuries I’m going to cheat a bit and pick the group of carved coquilla nut character snuff boxes, lots 282-289. From the moment I saw them they’ve been a firm favourite, and I’ve enjoyed having them keep me company in the weeks leading up to the sale. They’re whimsical expressions range from grinning openness, bewildered surprise and worried concern, to brooding menace, and they couldn’t delight me more. All are carved from the hard nut of the Attalea funiefera palm that is native to Brazil in South America and began appearing in Europe from the mid-16th century, brought back by sailors and travellers. The hard, dense wood of the nut was particularly good for carving and were made into all variety of small decorative objects like snuff boxes, nutmeg graters, and pomanders. These particular examples date from the first half of the 19th century and were used to carry snuff, a finely ground tobacco.
- Douglas Girton, Head of Fine Furniture and Works of Art
This panel was originally part of a long bed valance, and the motifs employed appear frequently on valances in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Some images, like the hen pecking the worm, appear in emblem books which were frequently used as a source for designs. These emblems were often accompanied by moral sayings or poems which would have been understood by the educated at that time. Even today we recognise 'the early bird catches the worm'.
My favourite piece is the first lot of the sale, the 17th Century needlework valance fragment. The closer you look at it, the more details and skilled needlework you see, The colours are still vibrant. You can’t help but imagine, what it once would have looked like in the whole on a 17th oak tester bed, but even as a fragment, it is something I would very much like to own. I would frame it and put it on my wall, for me and all who visited to admire.
- Katie Hannah, Furniture, Clocks & Works of Art
LOT 39 | EARLY GEORGIAN GILTWOOD AND GESSO MANTEL MIRROR | EARLY 18TH CENTURY | £800 - £1,200 + fees
I love this early 18th century English Rococo overmantel mirror. Although the Rococo style started in France during the 1730s it’s use in English furniture design was more structured and restrained. I think the flowing scrolls around the acanthus border are really stylish and its smaller size makes it very personal. It also still has its original gilding and silvered glass plate which is rare to find an example in unrestored condition. Over a beautiful piece of furniture or fire surround at head height this mirror would be a very refined addition to any interior.
- Harry Fletcher, Specialist
LOT 222 | BLUE JOHN GOBLET | LATE 19TH/ EARLY 20TH CENTURY | £700 - £1,000 + fees
This gorgeous goblet is made from a semi-precious stone called Blue John, a mineral that became hugely popular in the late Georgian period, when crafty tradesmen discovered how to fashion it into beautiful ornaments. As it is a fairly soft stone, it is quite tricky to work and requires a lot of skill. On top of that it is also very rare: Blue John can only be found in the caves of Castleton, Derbyshire; and due to it containing fluorite, large quantities of the ornamental stone were mined during the First World War to produce fluorspar, a flux in blast furnaces. Hard to imagine such a connection when looking at this pretty goblet, but it will surely spark some interesting conversations once it is on your shelf!
- Kerstin Schaeffer, Auction Administrator
douglas.girton@lyonandturnbull.com