The star of Locke & England’s March 30 sale in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, is this early 19th century Black Forest automata and organ longcase clock.
The 7ft 6in (2.28m) high mahogany clock is surmounted by a royal blue armorial crest over a neo-classical oil depicting the rescue of a stormstranded maiden. The fusee movement and cylinder operates the bellows to play eight songs while a pair of chirping and turning yellow birds open their beaks.
Estimate £3000-5000.
This 17in (44cm) high Kangxi bottle vase leads Cheffins’ Oriental sale in Cambridge on April 6.
In good condition, it was bought from the Kensington Church Street dealer George Horan in the early 1980s.
In iron red and gilt, the vase is decorated to the spherical body with chrysanthemum flowers, scrolling tendrils within pendant ruyi lappets and sprays of flowers. The rim is mounted with a gilt metal collar and engraved with coral diaper.
Estimate £3000-5000.
The late Hong Kong-based banker and art collector Allan Murray is probably best known in the art world for his distinguished collection of Scottish art, now mostly dispersed across the country’s art galleries.
But he also assembled a comprehensive collection of telescopes, scientific instruments and technology, an interest Murray ascribed to his childhood which was spent in Gullane, East Lothian, under the big skies of the North Sea.
Now part of this collection has been consigned to Lyon & Turnbull’s April 5 sale in Edinburgh. The auction house has received what the National Museums of Scotland couldn’t accommodate after the organisation was offered the entirety of the collection.
Among the 20 or so lots is this 4in long refracting brass telescope, c.1860, made by the eminent Dublin maker, Howard Grubb. Estimate £2000-3000.
Over 200 lots from the estate of renowned composer Malcolm Arnold will be offered in a dedicated sale at Keys Fine Art Auctioneers in Norwich on April 6.
A composer whose output spanned many music genres, Arnold was described by the BBC as ‘a towering figure in the history of British music’.
Items include paintings from his art collection, musical instruments, presentation gifts, personal belongings and Arnold’s own original manuscripts and film scores.
Among the latter is the 154-page film score for the 1966 British film comedy, The Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery, directed by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat.
Estimate £3500-4500.
