Leading the price list was a piece of English architect-designed, late 19th century mediaeval revivalist furniture. This marble-topped, green painted wooden pier table, designed by William Burges for the guest bedroom of his own home, Tower House, Melbury Road, Kensington between 1879-80, was sold to a private purchaser for £38,000. The 3ft (93cm) wide marble top assembled by marble cutters Burke and Co. is inset with three late Byzantine opus settile mosaic squares from the floor of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome and is encircled by a Latin inscription dated 1880 to that effect. They were probably purchased by Burges on one of his four trips to Rome.
Seeger out takes
Another instalment from the holdings of well-known collector Stanley J. Seeger went under the hammer at Sotheby’s Olympia rooms on December 13. This 352-lot offering, subtitled Out Takes, was a particularly eclectic selection, ranging from contemporary Venetian glass and tribal art to Middle Eastern pottery and Victorian chaises longues.
