This William and Mary ivory and pique box (pictured top and above) is decorated to the interior of the lid with a scene of a boy and three ladies. At Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket on October 15 it is guided at £500-700.
The sale at Pax Romana in London on October 4 includes a late Roman gold and hardstone pendant c.400AD. The depiction of a menorah flanked by a bird and an amphora suggests it may have belonged to a successful Jewish merchant working in the Roman Empire.
From the private collection of a London gentleman, and previously in a collection formed on the European art market in the 1980s, it has an estimate of £4000-8000.
This 12in (30cm) porcelain bottle vase with a mustard ‘hare’s fur’ glaze was made by Berndt Friberg (1899-1981) for Gustavsberg. He worked at the factory for most of his life, from 1934-81.
Purchased from John Sparks, London, 1966, it comes for sale at Adam Partridge, Macclesfield, on October 8-9 as part of a sale titled Studio Ceramics: The Leonard & Alison Shurz Collection.
Estimate £1000-1500.
Toovey’s Furniture and Collectors’ Items auction in Washington, West Sussex, on October 1 includes this set of four George III Sheraton period fruitwood elbow chairs.
Each bears a label reading Purchased at the ‘Orchardson’ sale 13 Portland Place, May 24th 1910 (Lot 94). This relates to the estate sale of the noted Scottish artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1832-1910). The original lot description mentions that one of these chairs is depicted in Orchardson’s picture Hard Hit.
Estimate £1000-1500.
A fine group of wares by the Della Robbia factory features in the Arts & Crafts and Design sale at Woolley & Wallis on October 6-7 in Salisbury.
This 19in (48cm) tile plaque cast in low relief with children playing musical instruments is signed to the bottom left corner for Ellen Mary Rope.
An example of this piece, titled Melody, is illustrated in The Studio magazine in 1898, while a similar panel appears in a 1905 exhibition catalogue priced at £3.3s. The item shows signs of repair after breakage and carries an estimate of £300-500.
A cased set of early 20th century silver and tortoiseshell menu holders by William Comyns, Birmingham, 1912, has an estimate of £450-500 at W&H Peacock in Bedford on October 2.
This 9in (23cm) stoneware vessel with cream and pale green glazes carries the seal of John Ward (b.1938).
It comes for sale with Craft Council paperwork relating to an exhibition of Ward’s work at the Victoria and Albert Museum shop in September 1989.
At Special Auction Services of Newbury on October 6, it has an estimate of £1500-2500.
Silver described as ‘the property of a lady’ comes for sale at Semley Auctioneers in Shaftesbury on October 10. This Irish neoclassical teapot marked for James Fray, Dublin, 1825, has a guide of £250-350.
This novelty silver-plated inkwell, carrying the maker’s stamp for Franz Reichenberg, Berlin DRP, is in the form of a railway carriage. It has an estimate of £400-600 at Lockdales in Ipswich on October 14-15.