A Bristol delft polychrome plate, c.1760.
1. Bristol delft polychrome plate
Duke’s Interiors auction in Dorchester on May 26 includes a large private collection of English and European ceramics.
Shown here is a Bristol delft polychrome plate, c.1760, decorated in the chinoiserie style, depicting a pagoda on a hill, 9in (22.5cm) diameter, with a Jonathan Horne Antiques label to the back.
It is offered together with a delft polychrome plate, probably Liverpool, c.1760, decorated with floral sprays, 9in (22.5cm) diameter, with a Garry Atkins collection label to the back, and another similar delft polychrome plate, English, c.1750, decorated with floral sprays and repeating border, 9½in (23.5cm) diameter.
Estimate £300-500.
2. Early book on chocolate
A copy of Henry Stubbe’s The Indian Nectar, or a Discourse Concerning Chocolata…, the earliest printed book on chocolate in the English language – estimate £2000-3000 at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
Exeter firm Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s Antiquarian Book Auction on May 24, an online-only sale, includes a copy of Henry Stubbe’s The Indian Nectar, or a Discourse Concerning Chocolata… estimated at £2000-3000.
Published in 1662, this is the earliest printed book on chocolate in the English language. It came from the Signet Library with its device in gilt on the upper cover.
The very long title adds: The Nature of the Cacao- Nut and the other Ingredients of that Composition, is examined, and states according to the Judgement and Experience of the Indians and Spanish writers, who lived in the Indies, and others; with sundry additional observations made in England, the ways of compounding and preparing chocolate are enquired into; its effects, as it is alimental and veneral quality, as well as medicinal (especially in hypochondriacal melancholy) are fully debated. Together with a spagyrical analysis of the cacao-nut, performed by that excellent chymist, Monsieur le Febure, chymist to His Majesty.
3. Georg Jensen candlesticks
Pair of Georg Jensen silver candlesticks with post-1945 marks – estimate £1000-1500 at C&T.
This pair of Georg Jensen silver candlesticks with post-1945 marks is expected to bring £1000-1500 at C&T in Ashford, Kent, on May 25.
4. Walter Sickert drawing
Walter Sickert pen and ink drawing, Café Vernet, Dieppe – estimate £3500-4500 at Roseberys.
A sale of Modern & Contemporary British and Irish art at Roseberys London on May 25 includes this Walter Sickert (1860-1942) pen and ink drawing guided at £3500-4500.
Café Vernet, Dieppe was sketched c.1920 while Sickert was living in France. The drawing is extensively annotated in English and French with colour notes and comments including light froth cold drink with a line pointing to a glass and colour of my drawing room walls.
5. Charles II tankard
Large Charles II pewter wriggle-work flat-lid tankard, c.1680 – estimate £4000-6000 at Bishop & Miller.
A large Charles II pewter wriggle-work flat-lid tankard, c.1680, is estimated at £4000-6000 at Stowmarket, Suffolk, saleroom Bishop & Miller on May 25-26.
Of quart Old English Ale Standard capacity, the lid and drum are decorated with bold stylised tulips, with ‘love bird’ thumbpiece, three-part hinge and S-shaped handle with hoof terminal. It bears stamped owner’s initials of CB and marked for Jonathan Ingles, London and Southampton (fl.1668-1705).
The 6½in (17cm) high tankard, capacity 42.3 fl oz, has a provenance to the Jan Gadd Collection.
6. Snuff box
Bilston gilt-metal-mounted snuff-box inscribed Gimcrack Robert Collins 1769 – estimate £2000-4000 at Christie’s.
On May 27, Christie’s will offer 170 lots from the collection of the late Lord and Lady Swaythling in a live auction.
David Montagu 4th Lord Swaythling (1928-98) had a career that spanned the worlds of banking, racing, politics and media and a collection that wove together strands of several inherited family collections.
Montagu was, for example, the maternal grandson of the connoisseur collector Nellie Ionides (1883-1962). Her collection of 80 English enamels from the 18th century, displayed at Buxted Park, Sussex, are in the sale including this Bilston gilt-metal-mounted snuff-box inscribed Gimcrack Robert Collins 1769 (estimate £2000-4000).
Ionides’ interest in enamels cemented a friendship with Queen Mary, who was also an avid enamel collector; both collections were featured in the book English Painted Enamels (1951) by Therle and Bernard Hughes.
