Mallams is selling a collection of around 30 watercolours by Sarah Stone, starting on February 23-24. This work is estimated at £1000-1500.
Commissioned by Sir Ashton Lever in the 1770-80s to paint the objects in his Leverian Museum, Stone’s works depicted many specimens brought back to England from expeditions in Australia and the Pacific, including a number of objects collected on Captain Cook’s second and third voyages.
She was also the illustrator for Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales published in 1790 and written by John White. In October 1786, White was appointed as chief surgeon on the expedition to establish a convict settlement in Australia, later known as the ‘First Fleet’, arriving at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson on January 26, 1788.
The Mallams collection comes from one of Stone’s distant relatives, with some items inherited and others purchased over the years from various sources, making it one of the largest collections of her work owned by a private individual.
This group will be sold over the course of two sales, starting with the February 23-24 Oxford Library Sale.
One of the lots included then is this illustration of a macaw, measuring 17 x 13in (43 x 33cm), signed Sarah Smith (her married name after her marriage in 1789 to Captain John Langdale Smith). Estimate £1000-1500.
