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Alain.R.Truong

Archives de Tag: circa 1670

A large blue and white dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

16 lundi Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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Blue-and-White, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period

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A large blue and white dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $8,000 – $12,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The large dish, with narrow everted rim, is decorated in the center with a scene of a warrior standing beneath a willow tree and addressing an approaching figure on horseback with groom, with three fruiting sprays on the rim. The exterior with three similar sprays and a fourth on the base.  14 ½ in. (36.8 cm.) diam. Lot 3573 – Price Realized $11,250

Provenance: Acquired in London in the 1980s.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, ‘Transition ware Made Plain: A Wreck from the South China Sea’, Oriental Art, Vol. XXXI, No. 2, Summer, 1985, p. 169, fig. 15b.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A blue and white dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

15 dimanche Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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'Master of the Rocks' style, Blue-and-White, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period

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A blue and white dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $10,000 – $15,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish, with flat, everted rim, is decorated in the ‘Master of the Rocks’ style with a mountainous river scene including a solitary figure of a sage walking beneath a pine tree. The underside is decorated with two further mountain scenes. 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm.) diam. Lot 3576 – Price Realized $18,750

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1985.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Dishes like this example and the previous lot (3575), where the entire surface of the vessel is given over as the major decorative area, provided the Kangxi ceramic artist with a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate his skills in landscape painting. The style chosen to paint the scene on this dish is a version of the so-called ‘Master of the Rocks’ style. This style, which seems to have developed towards the mid-17th century in the final years of the Ming dynasty, continued to be popular in the early years of the Kangxi reign, with a very few examples being made as late as the turn of the century. The ‘Master of the Rocks’ style was by no means limited to the brush of a single artist, and appears in a number of versions on porcelains from about 1640 to 1700. It was used on porcelains decorated in underglaze cobalt blue and also those decorated in underglaze blue and copper red. There are even very rare examples where the style has been combined with famille verte enamels. The style itself is characterized by the use of ‘hemp-fibre’ strokes to produce rocky landscapes full of movement and drama, often combined with the use of fluid dots to depict scrub and foliage.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A large underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

15 dimanche Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, Romance of the Western Chamber, Ten Choice Selections of Song Medleys Elegantly Illustrated, underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated, Woodblock illustration, Xiuxiang Gelin Shicui

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A large underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $10,000 – $15,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated on the interior with a scene from the Romance of the Western Chamber, depicting Yingying’s servant Hongniang kneeling before Yingying’s mother and an attendant in a curtained pavilion. An inscription referring to the scene appears on the wall behind the mother. The dish is supported on an unglazed channeled foot. 13 1/8 in. (33.2 cm.) diam. Lot 3589 – Price Realized $62,500

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1986.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, ‘Decorative Schemes for New Markets: The Origins and Use of Narrative Themes on 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain’, International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, London, 1997, p. 23, fig. 10.

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Notes: In this scene, which is known as ‘Hongniang in the Dock’, Yingying’s maid Hongniang is shown being interrogated and rebuked by Yingying’s mother regarding her daughter’s relationship with Zhang Sheng. The text behind the seated mother reflects Hongniang’s view and reads rather bluntly: ‘Why persist in stopping them? Daughters and dead fish are not items to be retained’. A differently composed scene from the Xixiang ji depicting a tense encounter between Yingying’s mother and Hongniang decorates the Yuan dynasty meiping in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but the scene on the Curtis dish was almost certainly inspired by an illustration in the 1659 woodblock printed edition of the tale. (fig.1)

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Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Xiuxiang Gelin Shicui (Ten Choice Selections of Song Medleys Elegantly Illustrated), 1659.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A small blue and white baluster vase, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

14 samedi Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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baluster vase, Blue-and-White, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, Huyan Zhuo, The Water Margin, Wu Song

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A small blue and white baluster vase, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $15,000 – $18,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The small high-shouldered vase, with slender neck and flaring mouth, is decorated with a scene from The Water Margin, depicting Huyan Zhuo and Wu Song combating each other with a sword and a whip. Each figure is accompanied by an identifying inscription, all between decorative bands and small flowers on the neck. The base bears an apocryphal Chenghua mark. 8 1/8 in. (20.5 cm.) high – Lot 3572 – Price Realized $21,250

Provenance: Anita Gray, London, 1996.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Huyan Zhou, supposedly a descendant of general Huyan Zan, also served as a general in the imperial army of the Song and was renowned for his bravery and fighting skills. His favored weapons were a pair of metal clubs, and his nickname was ‘double clubs’. The other protagonist on this vase is Wu Song, who is described as handsome and had various nicknames including ‘the pilgrim’ and ‘tiger fighting hero’. He was believed to have been a student of archer Zhou Tong, and was also a master of several other martial arts, being particularly skilled in the use of the staff. For four small Shunzhi-period dishes in the Curtis collection that are decorated with characters from The Water Margin see lot 3556.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A small blue and white ‘Immortals’ vase, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

14 samedi Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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'Immortals' vase, Blue-and-White, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, Han Xiangzi, He Xiangu, Lan Caihe, Lü Dongbin, Lie Tiegui, Shang Guolao, Shoulao, Zhongli Qian

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A small blue and white ‘Immortals’ vase, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $15,000 – $18,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The slender vase is of elongated pear form with a slightly flaring mouth and is decorated in pale tones of cobalt blue with a continuous scene of the Eight Daoist Immortals and the Star God Shoulao above, between a chevron band at the rim and a band of blurred dots around the foot. 8 in. (20.3 cm.) high – Lot 3564

Provenance: Anita Gray, London, 1997.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

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Notes: The Eight Daoist Immortals, Lu Dongbin, Han Xiangzi, Shang Guolao, Zhongli Qian, He Xiangu, Lan Caihe and Lie Tiegui, appear on this vase with Shoulao, the God of Longevity, who is accompanied by his deer. One of the three Star gods, Shoulao “appears to have emerged in his manifiestation as an old man with a huge, domed cranium in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century. Such scenes are commonly encountered on Ming ceramics and other decorative arts form the Jiajing reign (1522-66) onward, and continued to enjoy great popularity during the Qing dynasty.” (Stephen Little with Shawn Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000, p. 321, where a description of each god and his/her attribute is included).

This theme appears on two other pieces from the Curtis Collection both dating to the Shunzhi period, a large bowl (lot 3559) and a large dish (lot 3560).

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A large doucai dish, Kangxi period, circa 1670

14 samedi Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, Dish, doucai, Jiao you Dian hua, Kangxi period

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A large doucai dish, Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $18,000 – $25,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The large dish, with wide, flat, everted rim, is decorated with a scene of King Ding Xing on horseback approaching a Buddhist monk and a Daoist priest on the left, and accompanied by ladies on horseback and attendants. The channeled foot encloses a double circle on the base. 20 1/8 in. (51.1 cm.) diam. Lot 3591 – Price Realized $131,000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1995.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: The scene on this doucai dish comes from the wholly fictitious historical drama Jiao you Dian hua. In this scene, known as ‘Ding Xing Wang Ventures Out’, King Ding Xing is seen riding out in state – he has even given himself the dignity of being followed by an attendant carrying an official canopy. He is accompanied by two guards carrying lanterns and a group of his palace ladies, one of whom is playing a pipa, ride with him. As he progresses through the countryside he meets a Buddhist monk and a Daoist priest – shown on the left – who enter into discussion with him.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

An underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated basin, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670

14 samedi Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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basin, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated

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An underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated basin, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $20,000 – $30,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The basin is decorated in the interior with a praying mantis on a large rock beneath a prunus tree with a butterfly fluttering above. The cavetto is decorated with peony and chrysanthemum sprays beneath a band of flowering prunus branches on the everted rim. The basin is supported on an plain unglazed channeled foot. 14 ¼ in. (36.2 cm.) diam. Lot 3580 – Price Realized $62,500

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Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1985.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

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Notes: A basin of similar shape, decorated in underglaze blue and red and also exhibiting the channeled foot seen on the present lot, is in the Butler Family Collection and illustrated by Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection: Beauty’s Enchantment, London, 2006, pp. 224-225, no. 75. The Butler Family example is painted in the center with a ‘Master of the Rocks’-style landscape, but the decorative scheme is the same as on the present dish, as are the sprays of peony branches on the rim. Sir Michael Butler notes another related basin in the Percival David Foundation, London, that bears a Zhonghetang mark dating to 1671, and bases the dating of his dish on this marked example (ibid., p. 224).

The unglazed channeled foot that appears on the present lot and the two examples noted above, as well as on lots 3581, 3583, 3589, 3591 in this catalogue, appears to have been used by the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of time around 1670, and disappears in the second half of the Kangxi period.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A blue and white ‘Washing the elephant’ vase, early Kangxi period, circa 1670

13 vendredi Fév 2015

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Chinese Porcelains

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'Washing the elephant' vase, Blue-and-White, Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs, circa 1670, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, early Kangxi period, Fang Shi Mopu, Fang Yulu, Woodblock illustration

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A blue and white ‘Washing the elephant’ vase, early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The pear-shaped vase is decorated with a finely drawn scene of an elephant being washed by four Chinese grooms, one of whom is standing on top of the elephant with a large brush, as two dignitaries and a monk in a patchwork robe look on. 10 in. (25.2 cm.) high – Lot 3569 – Price Realized $137,000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1987.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

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Notes: The decoration on this early Kangxi-period vase depicts a scene known as ‘Washing the Elephant’ (saoxiang , literally ‘sweeping the elephant’). A white elephant is depicted being washed by four servants – one standing on top with a broom, one holding the elephant, and two filling a large jar from a water-filled wooden tub. They are watched by a Buddhist monk and a military officer. An initial link between the white elephant and Buddhism was revealed in connection with the birth of the Buddha. According to legend his mother, Queen Maya, was childless for many years after her marriage, but one night had a very vivid dream in which she was transported by four devas (spirits) to Lake Anotatta in the Himalayas. She was then visited by a white elephant holding a white lotus in its trunk, which walked around her three times before entering her womb through her right side. Tradition has it that the Buddha took the form of a white elephant in order to be reborn for the last time on Earth. In the Buddhist pantheon, a white elephant is also associated with the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who is often depicted riding the elephant.

The origin of this scene of washing or sweeping a white elephant is not clear. In his Record of Clouds and Mist Passing Before One’s Eyes (Yunyan guoyan lu) – a volume on art collecting in the early Yuan dynasty – Zhou Mi (c. 1232-1309) mentions paintings of Sweeping the Elephant by the Tang dynasty artists Yan Liben (c. 600-674) and his brother Yan Lide (died AD 656). The Yan Liben painting is also mentioned in the Xuanhe huapu – imperial painting catalogue of the Northern Song completed in around AD 1120, along with several others also with the theme ‘Washing the Elephant’. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a hanging scroll (accession number 1976.191) of this subject by Chen Zi (1632-1711). This painting bears an inscription suggesting that Ming dynasty scholars saw this subject as a pun for ‘sweeping away illusions’. The interpretation of sweeping away illusions is also given in the colophon to the illustration of ‘Washing the Elephant’, designed by Ding Yunpeng (fl. 1584-1618), in Fang Yulu’s (fl. 1570-1619) Fangshi mopu (A Manual of Mr. Fang’s Ink [Cake Designs]) published around AD 1588. (fig. 1)

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Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Fang Shi Mopu (Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs), by Fang Yulu, active 1570-1619.

This interpretation comes from the fact that the word for elephant is pronounced xiang – the same as the word for illusion. Showing the elephant being washed using a broom, suggests sweeping, and indeed the Chinese name for this subject is saoxiang , literally ‘sweeping the elephant’ – thus ‘sweeping away illusions’. Comparing the Ding Yunpeng illustration in the Fangshi mopu, which interestingly refers to the Tang dynasty Yan Liben painting, with the image on the porcelain vase shows how confusion may arise in transference between media. The elephant in the woodblock illustration is standing with each foot on an open lotus blossom. This has been misinterpreted on the vase to suggest that the elephant has numerous extended toes.

Illustrations of this scene were popular on late Ming and early Qing dynasty porcelains. For two small brush pots decorated with versions of this scene see Julia B. Curtis, ‘Decorative Schemes for New Markets: The Origins and Use of Narrative Themes on 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain’, International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, London, 1997, p.18, fig. 1, and S. Marchant & Son, Exhibition of Chongzhen-Shunzhi Transitional Porcelain From A Private American Collection, London, 2007, p. 5, no. 1.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A life’s passion: Incredible collection of vernacular antiques to sell at Bonhams Oxford

17 mercredi Déc 2014

Posted by alaintruong2014 in Auctions, English Furniture

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17th Century, bronze mortar, Burford, carved and polychrome-decorated oak heraldic finials, Charles I, Charles II, circa 1520-40, circa 1580-1600, circa 1583, Circa 1610, circa 1620, circa 1625, circa 1630-40, circa 1660, circa 1670, circa 1670-80, circa 1730-60, Edward Neale, Elizabeth I, English, Francis Keble, George II, Henry VIII, James I, Lancashire, late 16th-early 17th century, Mercer, North Wales, oak and inlaid court cupboard, oak and marquetry inlaid tester bed, oak boarded chest, oak joint stool, oak livery cupboard, oak panel-back open armchair, oak refectory table, oak six-leg refectory table, reeded broad-rim pewter charger, Somerset, West Country, Yelford Manor, yew-wood Cwpwrdd tridarn

OXFORD.– A fascinating selection of early vernacular furniture and works of art is to go under the hammer at Bonhams Oxford, in ‘The Oak Interior: including the Collection of Roger Rosewell FSA of Yelford Manor, Oxfordshire’, on 21 January 2015.

An impressive oak and marquetry inlaid tester bed, dating to the late 16th/early 17th century and estimated at £8,000-12,000, is a highlight of the sale, and comes from a 130-strong collection of pieces from Yelford Manor, former property of the medievalist and writer Roger Rosewell.

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An impressive oak and marquetry inlaid tester bed. Elements late 16th-early 17th century. Estimate £8,000 – 12,000 (€10,000 – 15,000). Photo Bonhams.

The tester with six deep recessed panels, each within a carved and dentil-moulded frame and centred by applied geometric inlaid mounts, the headboard with a pair of finely arch-carved panels flanked by figurative terms, headed by delicate floral marquetry, inlaid initials RM over EM and the date 1605, each end-post with a large bulbous cup-and-cover turning supporting a strap-work carved tapering Corinthian pillar, all raised on stiff-leaf carved plinths,(mattress size 5ft x 6ft 2in); 169cm wide x 219cm deep x225.5cm high, (66 1/2in wide x 86in deep x 88 1/2in high) 

Provenance: Purchased Mary Bellis Antiques, Hungerford, Berkshire, 17 September 1986.

Other items from Yelford Manor include:

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A rare and impressive James I oak panel-back open armchair, Somerset, circa 1625. Estimate £6,000 – 8,000 ç€7,500 – 10,00). Photo Bonhams.

With notable back rack, the arch-enclosed ornately floral-carved back-panel below a characteristic deep and similar carved top-rail, the carved and pierced cresting of two well defined scrolls, the back-uprights each carved with a single stylized stiff-plant above the downswept arm, the boarded seat with moulded edges wrapping around the underarm supports, the seat-rails typically carved with lunettes, raised on inverted-baluster turned legs joined by plain stretchers,72cm wide

Provenance: Purchased Mary Bellis Antiques, Hungerford, Berkshire, 15 November 1982.

Literature: A near identical chair illustrated Victor Chinnery,Oak Furniture: The British Tradition, (1993), p. 455, fig. 4:81; and a similar example, fig. 4:82. The author makes reference to the enriched arch found here and in general the high-quality carved furniture to be found in the area, which may be attributed to the cathedral city of Wells, or more likely to nearby larger regional centres such as Bristol. See pages 454 – 457.

See also Oak Furniture from Gloucestershire and Somerset, exhibition catalogue, St. Nicholas Church Museum, 2 April – 1 May 1976 and Stable Court Exhibition Galleries, Temple Newsam, Leeds, 12 May – 12 June 1976, (nos. 20 & 21).

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A James I oak and inlaid court cupboard, circa 1620 and later. Estimate £3,000-5,000 (€3,800 – 6,300).  Photo Bonhams.

The strap-work carved frieze to three sides, raised on Ionic capital cup-and-cover turned column supports each profusely leaf carved, enclosing a pair of cupboard doors each with complex geometric line inlaid decoration within a deep cushion moulded S-carved frame, the conforming central fixed panel centred by an ebonized boss, a pair of triple-panelled cupboard doors below, each with lunette-filled carved upper panel and two knot-pattern inlaid panels, the knot-pattern design repeated on the top side panels, restorations 141.5cm wide x 54.5cm deep x 167.5cm high,(55 1/2in wide x 21in deep x 65 1/2in high)

Provenance: Purchased Mary Bellis Antiques, Hungerford, Berkshire, 18 October 1984.

Literature: This cupboard is illustrated Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture – The Age of Oak, (1925) p. 153, fig. 127. It is noted as the property of Messrs. Gill and Reigate, and dated to 1618.

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A large, finely cast and important Commonwealth leaded bronze mortar, dated 1659, made for Francis Keble of Burford, Mercer [1637 – 1686], by Edward Neale of Burford [fl. c. 1640 – 1695]. Estimate £8,000 – 12,000 (€10,000 – 15,000). Photo Bonhams.

The rim with wire mouldings above a band of delicate ‘S’-scrolls and crosses, above the maker’s mark for Edward Neale, a chevron between three bells, flanked by the initials ‘EN’, between a pair of angular bead-embellished lug handles, above further wire mouldings and the inscription ‘I WAS MADE FOR FRANCIS KEBLE 1659’, all spaced by a line of three triangular pellets, two cord mouldings below, the foot with recessed flange, 36.5cm rim diameter x 27.5cm high (14 3/8in rim diameter x 10 13/16in high)

Provenance: – Francis Keble of Burford [1637 – 1686]
– Thence to the collection of J. H. Fitzhenry, Esq. [d. 1912]
– Sold Christie’s, 18th – 24th November 1913, Lot 603, and purchased by a Mr Sutton
– Thence acquired by Arthur G. Hemming, chemist and scholar of English mortars, before 1929
– Sold Sotheby’s, 22nd April 1988
– Thence to the collection of John Fardon, and soldChristie’s, 1st May 1996, Lot 239
– Thence to the collection of Michael Finlay
– Purchased by the current vendor in November 1997

(one of six named and dated 17th century English mortars in Mr. Rosewell’s collection)

Exhibited: – With the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1892 – 1902 (on loan from the Fitzhenry Collection)

Illustrated: – Arthur G. Hemming, ‘Dated English Bell-Metal Mortars’, in Connoisseur (March, 1929), 166, No. IX.
– P. Hornsby, Collecting Antique Copper & Brass (1989), p. 14, Figure 6.
– M. Finlay, ‘Who was Francis Keble?, in The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society Volume 7 (June, 1999), 35 – 38.
– M. Finlay, English Decorated Bronze Mortars & their Makers (2010), Colour Plate 6a.

Francis Keble of Burford: Francis Keble’s biographical details are discussed in Michael Finlay’s 1999 article (cited above). Francis Keble is believed to have been born to Toby and Mary Kibble and baptised on 24th August 1637 at All Saints, Gloucester. His parents were probably the Toby Kibble and Mary Purnell who married on 21st August 1636 in Gloucestershire, parish unknown. Given that Francis Keble was buried at Eastleach in 1686, and left a bequest to the poor of that parish by his will, it is likely that he was born and/or raised there, and was thus a member of the Keble family who resided in that parish, and the surrounding parishes of Lechlade, Southrop and Fairford. John Keble, after whom Keble College, Oxford is named, was born at Fairford, and would later become curate of St. Michael’s and St. Martin’s Church in Eastleach Martin.

Francis Keble married Sarah Bartholomew, the daughter of one of Burford’s leading citizens and mercers, in February 1658. They lived in what is now called Wysdome House on the main street in Burford. Apparently childless, Francis Keble willed the bulk of his property – after bequests – to his wife, Sarah, who survived him by some seventeen years, dying in 1703. Her name is recorded on the Bartholomew memorial tablet in the church at Burford.

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A rare Henry VIII oak boarded chest, circa 1520-40. Estimate £3,000-5,000 (€3,800 – 6,300). Photo Bonhams.

The lid and frieze with applied edge moulding to imply panelled construction, whilst taking account the position of the lock-plate, the pointed-arched apron with leaf-and-berry carved spandrels, 147.5cm wide x 48.5cm deep x 74.5cm high, (58in wide x 19in deep x 29in high)

Provenance: Purchased Mary Bellis Antiques, Hungerford, Berkshire, 12 September 1990.

Literature: A virtually identical, but smaller example, from the Lygon Arms, Broadway, Worcestershire, illustrated R. Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture, (1986), Vol. II, Fig. 15.

An English mid-16th century oak boarded chest with leaf-carved frieze, comparable to the spandrel carving found here, sold Sotheby’s, ‘The Clive Sherwood Collection’, 22 May 2002, Lot 70, (£8,460).

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A Charles I oak six-leg refectory table, possibly West Country, circa 1630-40 and later. Estimate £4,000-6,000 (€5,000 – 7,500). Photo Bonhams.

Having a triple boarded cleated top, the front frieze carved with lunettes and with integral scroll shaped spandrels, raised on bulbous and flattened ball-turned legs, joined by plain stretchers, each front upper leg block unusually carved and with the turned feet still partly intact, replacements, 287cm wide x 72.5cm deep x 80cm high, (112 1/2in wide x 28 1/2in deep x 31in high)

Provenance: Purchased Mary Bellis Antiques, Hungerford, Berkshire, 22 February 1983.

Literature: Cescinsky & Gribble, Early English Furniture and Woodwork, (1922), Vol. II, p. 115, illustrates a refectory table of similar date with carved upper leg blocks to each front leg, (fig. 143), and another refectory table, (fig. 144), with a comparable carved frieze as found here.

Yelford Manor is a timber-framed, late-15th-century, Grade II listed property that has only had five owners in 500-odd years. Practically derelict by the 1950s, it was sold to and rescued by Oxford professor Bernard Babington Smith OBE. Nowadays Yelford Manor has been extensively renovated by its recent owner, the medievalist and writer Roger Rosewell who, in 1984, heard that Professor Babington Smith was thinking of selling, went to see the house and bought it the very same day.

A staunch supporter of the SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) and its principles of ‘conservative repair’, Mr Rosewell spent the next 16 years gradually restoring the roof, removing modern partitions to open up the first floor, installing new plumbing and heating systems, and creating an enclosed courtyard with a cloister linking a 19th-century dairy block to the house. Mr Rosewell also laid out Yelford’s exquisite landscaped gardens.

As Mr. Rosewell writes in his introduction to the sale, one of his life’s great passions from a young age has been medieval art, including timber-framed houses and their interiors. Having purchased Yelford Manor, he writes: “Over the next thirty years I scoured antiques shops finding pieces of sixteenth and seventeenth-century furniture which would complement the house and create a marvellously evocative and inspirational atmosphere in which I could write books about medieval wall paintings and stained glass, collect contemporary objects, such as mortars, and design intricate Elizabethan-style knot gardens and parterres.

Despite the age and rarity of many items, the house was always a home, not a museum. We ate at the refectory table daily; I told my children stories in the imposing four poster bed every morning before they went to school; coffers, such as the late medieval and almost sculptural, iron bound ‘standard’ chest housed our library of maps and Michelin guides.”

In the main body of the sale are a further 500-plus lots, ranging from furniture to metalware and textiles. Two rare items dating to the reign of Elizabeth I are on offer; an oak joint stool, circa 1580-1600, is estimated at £7,000-10,000, and an oak livery cupboard, circa 1583 and later, carries an estimate of £4,000-6,000.

136790-0023-004

A rare Elizabeth I oak joint stool, circa 1580-1600. Estimate £7,000 – 10,000 (€8,800 – 13,000). Photo Bonhams.

The seat with a double reeded and thumb-moulded edge, the rails carved with lunette-shaped stylized foliate motifs over a gauge-carved lower edge, each leg with deep gadrooned-carved parallel-baluster turning over a plain linear-incised ball, united by stretchers with fine central run-moulding to each outer face, on turned feet, 46cm wide x 27.5cm deep x 57cm high, (18in wide x 10 1/2in deep x 22in high)

his particular design of joint stool belongs to a small select group of other known examples, which all exhibit similar lunette fan or foliate-carving to the frieze-rails, along with the distinctive deep gadrooned-carved legs. One such example sold, Sotheby’s, ‘The Clive Sherwood Collection’, 22 May 2202, Lot 189, (£12,300); another Sotheby’s, ‘Nyetimber Manor’, 27 September 2001, Lot 1080, (£3,600). A further example Sold Sotheby’s, ‘The Shaw Collection’, 13 September, 2006, Lot 42, (£13,800), and was formerly in the ‘Mary Bellis Collection’, sold Christie’s, 21 May, 1987, Lot 205.

Literature: Tobias Jellinek, Early British Chairs and Seats 1500 to 1700, pp. 218-219, pl. 271 and 272. Victor Chinnery,Oak Furniture: The British Tradition, (1993), p. 184, fig. 2:207.

Illustrated: Essentially English: The Renaissance in Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Beedham Antiques Ltd., BADA 90th Anniversary Exhibition Catalogue.

34

A rare Elizabeth I oak livery cupboard, circa 1583 and later. Estimate £4,000-6,000 (€5,000 – 7,500). Photo Bonhams.

With six cupboard doors, each typically of boarded construction, with applied heavy edge mouldings to simulate framed panels, further decoration to all upper doors in the form of deep gauge-carving and simple punched-decoration to all mouldings, along with linear interlaced-inlay, which is centred to the left-hand door with the initials F A and to the right with the date 1583, both inlaid in mastic-composition, restorations, 143.5cm wide x 45cm deep x 135cm high, (56in wide x 17 1/2in deep x 53in high)

Further items include: 

392029d02d2fb9e442292c2c00874409

A Charles II oak refectory table, circa 1660. Estimate £5,000-7,000 (€6,300 – 8,800). Photo Bonhams.

Having a removable triple boarded cleated top, each frieze-rail with pairs of stained run-mouldings and all with scroll-cut spandrels, the long frieze also with a conforming centralapron, raised on ring-turned legs, joined by plain stretchers,286cm wide x 81cm deep x 75cm high, (112 1/2in wide x 31 1/2in deep x 29 1/2in high)

Provenance: Purchased Beedham Antiques Ltd., Charnham Close, Hungerford, Berkshire, November 1990, (£18,775). Sold with a copy of the original receipt.

The top of this table appears never to have been fixed in place. Instead, two of the upper leg blocks, at opposing corners, have a small integral raised extension which locates into a cut-out on the underside of the top. It appears to have been unusually made this way.

It is also worth noting how the lower-edge moulding on each frieze takes account the positions of the spandrels and central apron; it stops above each decorative device.

gm_327401T5V1x1024

An exceptionally large and rare 17th century reeded broad-rim pewter charger, English, circa 1670. Estimate £6,000-8,000 (€7,500 – 10,000). Photo Bonhams.

The rim engraved with the mantled arms of BORLASE, ermine, on a bend sable, two arms armed issuing out of the clouds argent, rending a horse-shoe or, the augmentation of a baronet being an inescutcheon, a sinister hand erect couped at the wrist and appaumé, within a mantling, and engraved with the mantled crest of BORLASE, on a wreath a wolf passant regardant argent, in the mouth an arrow or, vulning the neck, hallmarks to the front rim of Stephen Lawrance, London, working (1661-1708), (OP5729, PS5729), rim diameter 4 3/4in., 12cm, overall diameter 28 1/2in., 72.4cm, (33%)

Provenance: Engraved with the arms of Sir John Borlase (1619 – 72), first Baronet of Bockmer, Buckinghamshire, or his son Sir John Borlase (1640 – 89), second Baronet.
Ex. Carl Jacobs Collection.
Possibly Ex. Isher Collection.

Literature: Discussed in an article written by Dr Robinson, Journal of the Pewter Society, Vol. 4, No. 2, Autumn 1983, p. 40. It is described as exceptional. A further Journal article, Vol. 28, Autumn 2008, p. 3 – , co-written by Dr. Robinson, lists all current known chargers with a diameter of 23in., or above. This lot is listed as the joint fifth largest example. It remains the largest recorded charger in private hands, and is possibly the largest 17th century pewter charger which has not been altered.

The survey lists the following larger examples:
36 1/8in example in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, made by extending the rim of a 29 1/4in charger.
34 3/8in example in the Colonial Williamsburg Museum, Virginia, again possibly made by extending the rim of a smaller charger.
30in 19th century example, whose present whereabouts are unknown, but is noted in an original list made by Dr. Robinson in 1977.
A 19th century oval example, 36in x 23in.
A Romano-British example, the same size as this lot.
The survey records five other chargers by Stephen Lawrance I; diameters 25 1/4in; 23 1/2in and two 23in.

The Borlase Baronets of Bockmer: The baronetcy of Borlase of Bockmer existed from its creation in 1642 to its extinction on the death of the second baronet without an heir in 1689.

The first Baronet, Sir John Borlase, was born at Littlecote House, the son of Sir William Borlase and his wife Amy Popham, daughter of Sir Francis Popham. In April 1640, Borlase was elected Member of Parliament for Great Marlow in the Short Parliament. His re-election as MP for Marlow to the Long Parliament in November 1640 was declared void after a dispute. Instead Borlase was returned as MP for Corfe Castle in 1641. On 4 May 1642, he was created baronet of Bockmer, in the County of Buckingham. He was disabled from sitting for his Royalist tendencies in 1644. In 1645, he was imprisoned by order of Oliver Cromwell, but released for a fine of 2400 £ a year later. After the Restoration, Borlase represented Wycombe in the Cavalier Parliament from 1661 until his death in 1672. Borlase died, aged 52 in Bockmer in Buckinghamshire and was buried in Little Marlow four days later. Borlase married Alice Bancks, daughter of Sir John Bancks, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, at St Giles in the Fields, London on 4 December 1637. They had seven children, six daughters and one son. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only son John.

John Borlase, 2nd Baronet, succeeded his father as Baronet in 1672. In 1673, he entered the House of Commons as MP for Wycombe, representing the constituency until 1681. Borlase died unmarried and was buried in Stratton Audley in Oxfordshire. With his death the baronetcy became extinct.

Both baronets lived at Bockmer in Buckinghamshire, which their family had possessed since the mid-16th century. Their estates included the manor of Stratton Audley, Oxfordshire and Davers in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. William Borlase was knighted by James I in 1603, and founded the Borlase School in 1624 as a memorial to his eldest son. Sir John Borlase, First Baronet, was married to Alice (1621 – 1683), eldest daughter of Sir John Bankes. Van Dyck painted her portrait and that of her husband, Sir John. Tradition has it that they entertained Charles II and Nell Gwyn at Bockmer in 1665.

9523060683418f278a6f7df2a266b0e8

A rare George II yew-wood Cwpwrdd tridarn from North Wales, circa 1730-60. Estimate £5,000-8,000 (€6,300 – 10,000). Photo Bonhams.

Typically in three parts, the open-canopy with baluster-silhouette side slats and baluster-turned column-supports, the middle-section having a triple tablet and pendant-hung frieze, enclosing a pair of recessed flattened ogee-arched cupboard doors later centred by an open mirror-backed recess, over three drawers and a pair of conforming cupboard doors centred by a fixed pointed-arched fielded panel, 144cm wide x 52cm deep x 143cm high, (56 1/2in wide x 20in deep x 56in high)

It is exceptionally rare for a Cypwrdd tridarn to be constructed in yew-wood, rather than using traditional oak. Even the drawer-linings and backboards found here are made in yew.

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A rare pair of James I carved and polychrome-decorated oak heraldic finials, circa 1610. Estimate £7,000-10,000 (€8,800 – 13,000). Photo Bonhams.

Each beast modelled as a sejant erect supporter with pricked ears, realistically rendered argent fur with or spots, with delineated ribs and musculature, and erect phallus, seated on a hemisphere, each with tail curved over a haunch, and holding between each paw a scroll-ended cartouche with sunken oval centre, one painted with the coat of arms of WARREN, chequy or and azure, the other lacking paint,51cm high, (2)

These finials – modelled as beasts with square, canine features, and without protruding lower incisors – are not the same as, but bear close relation to, the leopard finials that adorn both the staircase and Great Hall screen at Knole, the home of the Sackvilles in Kent, built between 1605 and 1608, during ‘re-edifying’ works undertaken by Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset.

The current decorative scheme of these finials was revealed after the removal of several layers of paint, but it is entirely possible that the paint remaining is not the original. It is thus difficult to determine for whom these finials were made, where they stood or, indeed, exactly which beast they represent. In heraldry, few beasts are tinctured as they are here, with yellow or gold spots [the heraldic tincture or] against white or silver [argent] fur. Leopards, the most likely candidate, are usually tinctured with a non-metallic colour in combination with a metallic one and are often, like the Sackville leopards, more feline in appearance. The panther, more dog-like, is rendered with spots in a variety of colours, and with flames issuing from its mouth and ears.

The painted coat of arms – chequy or and azure – is that of WARREN, earlier DE WARRENE. This family had become extinct by the 17th century, but their coat of arms was quartered by their descendants, most notably the Howards. Thus, chequy or and azure was one of the quarterings of the arms of Anne Boleyn when she was made Marchioness of Pembroke, and her dexter supporter was a leopard. In the later 16th and 17th centuries, the Howard Dukes of Norfolk and the Howard Earls of Surrey and Arundel quartered these arms with their own. If these finials were used as part of a decorative scheme in one of the many Howard properties which were re-modelled or newly built in the 17th century – the most notable of these being Northampton House, Audley End and Arundel House – the other finials would have to have been painted with different quarters, in order for the staircase, taken as a whole, to display the owner’s entire coat of arms. A 19th century Gothic staircase at Arundel Castle, which was razed during the Civil War in 1644, shows different quarters of the Howard arms on different finials. One of them bears the arms of WARREN.

144995-001-60

A rare pair of Charles II oak joint stools, Lancashire, circa 1670-80. Estimate £5,000-8,000 (€6,300 – 10,000). Photo Bonhams.

Of elongated form, each seat with thumb-moulded edge, unusually carved to just one long frieze-rail with interlaced and leaf-filled lunettes, the remaining rails all with channel-moulded lower edge, raised on elongated ball-turned and gently splayed legs, joined by plain stretchers, 60.5cm widex 28.5cm deep x 55.5cm high, (23 1/2in wide x 11in deep x21 1/2in high) (2)

Provenance: Each with former stock label which probably refers to H. W. Keil, Broadway, Worcestershire.

Although the majority of joint stools were possibly made in sets of six or more it is now relatively scarce to find more than a single example from a larger set. This pair are rarer still for their elongated proportions and carving to just one frieze-rail. The fine straw-colour, to the underside of the seat and the rear of the frieze-rails should also be noted; a distinctive feature often found on the underside of late 17th century seat furniture from Lancashire and the surrounding areas.

Alain R. Truong

Alain R. Truong
janvier 2021
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