The 280-lot sale on December 17 will include paintings, furniture, ceramics, silver, jewellery, books and other personal possessions from Mary Soames' home in Holland Park with estimates ranging from £40 to £400,000.
At the centre of the sale are 15 paintings by her father, said to be the most important and personal group of Churchill's works to come to the market. They include this c.1930s oil on canvas, Tapestries at Blenheim, estimated at £200,000-300,000. The tapestries commemorate the 1704 Battle of Blenheim, the most famous victory of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in the War of Spanish Succession.
It was also announced that 38 paintings by the war-time leader have been offered to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax by the Churchill family. The majority will stay at Chartwell, the family home now owned by the National Trust, with two others remaining at the House of Commons and at the Imperial War Museum's Churchill War Rooms.
