Roseberys' summer Fine & Decorative auction features a carefully curated selection of works of art from Britain, Europe and beyond. The sale features a variety of sculpture, ceramics and glass, furniture, and more, appealing to collectors and decorators alike and suiting a wide range of tastes and budgets. 

The sculpture section is led by lots 516 – 523, a private collection of late 18th and early 19th century nativity figures. The traditional nativity scene or ‘presepio’ is at the centre of Italian Christmas celebrations, with churches, squares, shops, and public spaces displaying not only manger scenes but also figures of townspeople and countryfolk from Bethlehem and its surrounds. The Neapolitan royalty adopted this tradition for their personal enjoyment in the 18th century, ushering in a golden age of creche figure production. The figures are pliable, and can be posed at will according to their facial expressions, while varying in height to perspectival benefit for the stage. This private collection is typical of the Neapolitan presepio tradition, and reflects the multicultural society of the Mediterranean coastal town. 

LOT 582: A Herend porcelain combined part dinner and tea service, early 20th century and later

Elsewhere in the sale, an academic selection of ceramics and glassware features lot 582, a Herend porcelain combined dinner service in the ‘Windsor Flowers’ and ‘Fruits Necker’ patterns, the service being the property of the painter Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937) and Lucy de László née Guinness (1870-1950) and their descendants. De László, whose paintings have been well-represented in Roseberys’ Old Master, British and European Paintings department, commissioned the ‘Windsor Flowers’ plates sometime between 1915 and 1930, and bear a gilded L with a coronet above, signifying his ennoblement. The Herend porcelain manufactory seems an appropriate choice by the Hungarian-British artist, having received patronage from both Queen Victoria I of Great Britain and Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Another item of historical interest is lot 601, the hand-written personal journal of Sir William Parker Carrol (1776-1842), dated from 1825 onward. Carrol was educated at Trinity College Dublin before subverting expectations by enlisting as a volunteer at the commencement of war with France in 1794, serving with distinction in the British expedition against Buenos Aires, and offering himself as hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty between the British and Argentine armies, securing the return of many prisoners of war in the process. The diary begins with his postage to the Ionian islands, as Lieut. Colonel of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot, and features writing in multiple hands, in English and Greek, as well as various finished and unfinished sketches.

Front and centre of the sale is lot 637, a Napoleon III gilt-bronze and champlevé enamel clock from the last quarter of the 19th century. This impressive and striking (pun intended) mantel clock has a champlevé enamel dial and corresponding back, richly decorated in scrolling foliate motifs. For another example of this intricate and technically demanding decorative medium, look to lot 537, a pair of gilt-bronze and champlevé enamel urns in the manner of Barbedienne.

Finally, continuing Roseberys’ recent success with the impressive micromosaic and specimen marble table from the collection of George Farrow, the fine furniture and rugs section of the sale features lots 773 and 774, two fine examples of French and Italian pietre dure marble specimen table tops, with kingwood and mahogany bases respectively. Each has a checkerboard centre, perfect for impressing your chess-playing friends and colleagues!