The shock of the old: the avant garde designs of a century or more ago
09 December 2020 The umbrella term Decorative Arts is commonly used in the antiques trade to describe the plethora of objects made during the avant garde art movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
London Underground poster by Dora Batty at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
That includes pieces in a wide variety of media - glass, ceramics, metalwork, textiles or works on paper - that reflect the artistic sensibilities of trends such as Historicism, Aestheticism, Japonism, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Pictured here are five upcoming objects made between around 1870-1930, each reflecting a different design movement.
This London Underground poster There is Still the Country from 1926 (above, top) is a Deco design by Dora Batty (1900-66). The 3ft 5in x 2ft 1in (1.01m x 63cm) poster, with tears to the lower left and upper middle, is estimated at £100-200 in the Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood auction in Exeter on December 15.
This pair of 23in (57cm) Cotswold School Arts and Crafts brass fire dogs, c.1900, is attributed to Nelson Dawson and Edward Spencer for the Artificers’ Guild. The foliate fretwork design is based on the 17th century firedogs at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire.
The fire dogs have a guide of £2000-3000 at Mallams in Oxford on December 15-16.
This Minton majolica umbrella stand modelled as an amphora on a chinoiserie stand with lion masks and key fret supports, 3ft 1in (93cm) high, has an impressed date mark for 1870. The Aesthetic movement design is often attributed to the pioneering Victorian designer Christopher Dresser.
It has a guide of £800-1200 at Bishop & Miller of Stowmarket on December 16.
Dunhill's geometric forms are considered the Rolls-Royce of Art Deco cigarette lighters. This silver Unique pattern watch-lighter with engine turned decoration is one of a group of Dunhills for sale at Swan Fine Art in Tetsworth on December 10.
It has a guide of £1000-2000.
This Art Nouveau mahogany and satin-birch console table, 4ft 1in (1.22m) wide, is by the Nancy designer and manufacturer Louis Majorelle, c.1910. At Adam’s in Dublin on December 15 it is expected to make €5000-8000.
