Made around 1712-15, the panels carried the armorials and initials of their first owners, Sir Thomas Taylour and his wife Sarah, and came with a full provenance dating back to the couple’s Irish home.
Sotheby’s decided to sell them as single lots, each with an estimate of £5000 to £8000. All bought by a dealer on behalf of a client, they sold at £15,000 for the example shown right, £14,000, £13,000 and £12,000.
Other textiles also did well. A pair of 4ft 61/2in x 231/2in (1.36m x 59cm) 18th century French panels worked in tent stitch with mythical scenes made £17,000, double the lower estimate. Trebling the estimate was a similar, smaller pair of panels, also French, c.1750, illustrating country scenes, surrounded by narrow foliate borders. There was interest from both private and trade buyers before the pair sold to the trade at £14,000.
A selection of embroidered cushions made up of fragments of 18th and 19th century embroideries were just the sort of item that appealed to private buyers and prices were very buoyant for all these lots, typically
doubling estimate to sell between £1000 and £3000.
Threads of history over three centuries amassed in 20 years
DAVID McAlpine’s eye for quality textiles was evident throughout Fawley House and the most important items were a set of four George I embroidered wall panels, each 6ft 2in x 2ft 91/2in (1.88m x 85cm). Worked in tent and cross stitch in richly coloured wools and silks, these depicted ornate pots full of exotic flowers set on pedestals bearing armorials and surrounded by a menagerie of exotic birds, beasts and Oriental figures.
