The March 24 sale of British & European Art at Bonhams includes a selection of works by the Birmingham Group painter Joseph Edward Southall (1861-1944). They come for sale by descent from Isobel Harlock, a cousin of the artist.
This pencil and watercolour portrait is taken from one of four sketchbooks dating from 1885-1934 that together carry an estimate of £2000-3000.
bonhams.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This souvenir chess piece was produced by Carlo Joseph and Arthur Alphonse Giuliano, sons of the celebrated Italian artist jeweller Carlo Giuliano, to commemorate the first chess match played between the House of Commons in London and the House of Representatives in Washington, DC.
Each team comprised five players with the moves relayed back and forth across the Atlantic by telegraphic cable. The match, starting on Monday, May 31, 1897, was drawn after two days of play with each side scoring 2.5 points.
A series of these 3in (7.5cm) chess pieces were made, each signed C&AG to the base, suitably inscribed and inset to the top with a section of transatlantic telegraph wire.
This one carries an estimate of £2000-3000 at Mallams’ Silver & Objets de Vertu sale in Oxford on March 26.
mallams.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
The Comerford collection, formed over 40 years by the late John and Pauline Comerford, forms the core of a sale of Fine Portrait Miniatures at Chiswick Auctions on March 25.
John descended from the Irish miniaturist of the same name (c.1770-1832) and first began collecting works by some of the leading Irish miniaturists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries before including works by miniature painters from Britain and the Continent.
The collection consists of 121 lots. Pictured here is John Comerford’s c.1800, 4½in (11.5cm) watercolour on ivory of the architect Edward Smyth (1749-1812), depicted seated at his desk holding a pair of callipers.
Signed Comerfod (sic) to the lower-right corner and indistinctly inscribed on the obverse, the estimate is £2500-3500.
Smyth worked with James Gandon (1742-1823) on most of his major projects, including the Four Courts, the House of Lords and the King’s Inns in Dublin.
chiswickauctions.co.ukor see this item on thesaleroom.com
This porcelain plate by the Nantgarw factory, decorated in London c.1818-20, carries an estimate of £2500-3500 as part of The Welsh Sale at Rogers Jones in Cardiff on March 21.
The decoration, which has very little signs of wear, includes a border of flowers and foliage and two exotic colourful birds and four surrounding butterflies to the centre.
rogersjones.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
