Four Fresh to Market Collections get Offered at Auction

On February 21st, Roseberys are proud to be presenting the first of our quarterly Fine & Decorative sales. Anna Evans, the Head of this Sale explains that the auction is being “led by four fresh to the market, private collections. The Sir Nicholas Goodison Collection of Automata and Moving Toys showcases 70 lots of humorous and quirky toys from the renowned collection of the polymath Sir Nicholas Goodison.  The Robert G. Vater collection of European Ceramics is an enticing offering of -wide-ranging porcelain from the academic collection of Robert and Ilse Vater, collected throughout their married life.  The John Kenworthy-Browne collection highlights his keen eye and interest in sculpture, furniture and works of art.  Lastly, the eight lots from the late Lord Avebury come with a fascinating history and provenance.   The sale also includes a diverse range of silver, furniture, rugs, clocks and ceramics to entice all tastes and budgets.”These four collections are the standout highlights of this eclectic sale.

Lots 91-160 - a selection of excellent quality unique automata and moving toys - come from the collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison. Goodison (1934 - 2021) was a well-respected businessman, scholar, patron of the arts, polymath (he held a Ph.D. in Architecture and Art History), and philanthropist. He had a remarkable presence in the two worlds of banking and the arts; he was a highly respected chairman of the London Stock Exchange (1976-1986), chairman of the TSB Group (1988-1995), and deputy chair of Lloyds TSB (1995-2000). Outside of his finance, Goodison chaired leading cultural institutions such as the Courtauld (1982-2002), the Art Fund (1986-2002), and the Crafts Council (1997-2005).  The sale includes hundreds of traditional mechanical and hand-operated toys from many countries, including Britain, Germany, China and Japan, ranging from commercial toys dating from the 1950s onwards, to major contemporary pieces by leading modern British makers.   They were collected by Sir Nicholas over a fifty year period from 1953 during his extensive travels throughout the world.Appealing to both adults and children due to their ingenious design and witty characteristics the collection gives a valuable snapshot into one key aspect of the history of toy making. Speaking in 2014 ahead of an exhibition of his collection at Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill, Sir Nicholas said: “I never meant to collect toys. It just came about. But there were some key moments on the way. I was in the army in 1953-5, at Oldenburg in northern Germany. There I met the Schuco fiddler. I liked his action, with that sweep of the bow every few notes, and thought its designer deserved a medal. Other ingenious clockwork figures joined him in the next few years.  Soon I was looking out for such things; and later, when I travelled a lot, the hunt became international. I had some rules. The toys had to be brand new. They didn’t have to be mechanical. Hand-held toys were fine. But they had to do something– although in due course I also allowed toys to which you could do something transformational such as Russian dolls, glove and cone puppets and kaleidoscopes. For many years I had a price limit but it went away as I became intrigued by hand-crafted automata.” Leading the collection are over fifty pieces by key figures who were central to the renaissance of automata making in the UK such as Peter Markey, Tony Mann, Robert Race, Keith Newstead and Ron Fuller.  These mechanically minded artists share a delight in the absurd and the ridiculous, creating toys which occupy the strange, shifting ground between folk art, kinetic sculpture, toy-making, satire and mechanics.  Alongside the humorous mechanical sculpture are a large number of toys many of them traditional in design and made in countries all over the world, some hand-crafted, some mass-produced, which either move by themselves (once set off) or can be made to move by anyone with a hand or two. This cheerful and quirky collection appeals to adults and children alike and is a unique opportunity to purchase an automaton or moving toy from a renowned collector.

Lots 168 - 243 come from The Vater collection of European ceramics, amassed by Robert G. Vater and Ilse Vater in the 20th century. The wide-ranging academic collection of ceramics includes examples from key European pottery centres and manufactories from the Renaissance to the early 19th century. The collection is of beautiful quality and impressive depth. The sale of this collection is particularly noteworthy for collectors of German ceramics, who are well-advised to register to bid in the upcoming auction.

Lots 9, 18, 65, 272 - 319, 388 - 397, and 506, come from the property of John Kenworthy-Browne FSA. The art historian specialises in architecture and sculpture, principally from the neoclassical period.  He was educated at Ampleforth College and Wadham College, Oxford, followed by the Courtauld Institute in London.  John was the first National Trust curator at Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire, which he opened to the public in 1961. The Queen Mother visited Dyrham on 16th March 1962, and she was pictured with him outside the Assembly Rooms during the visit.  After his time at Dyrham, John joined Christie’s where he catalogued furniture, and it was at Christie’s that he first became fascinated with sculpture.  John has published numerous articles in Apollo, Burlington Magazine, The British Art Journal, Sculpture Journal and Country Life, and wrote the sculpture entries for The Age of Neo-Classicism Exhibition in 1972.  He also published Chippendale and his Contemporaries (1975), and he was the co-author of Three Centuries of Furniture (1972) and The Country House Guide (1979).  His work on a publication on the British sculptor Joseph Nollekens was cut short by an accident, and it is for John’s care that this selection of lots are being sold.  

A final collection of works coming to Roseberys on February 23rd comes from the property of the late Lord Avebury. Lots 161 - 166 and lot 438 are consigned from the estate of the Liberal Democrat peer who dedicated many years to fighting for civil liberties. William Gladstone was a hero of Lord Avebury and the political ceramics and works of art offered here are testimony to the regard he held Gladstone in. Lord Avebury descends from John Lubbock, 1^st Baron Avebury, from whom the sideboard (lot 438) was inherited, lived at High Elms, Kent, and was friends with Charles Darwin who lived nearby at Down House. According to family tradition, the sideboard came from Down House, but this tantalising story cannot be substantiated.

The first individual highlight from this sale is lot 45, a silver gilt and white guilloche enamel box from the Estate of the Rt. Hon. the Countess of Sutherland. The oval-form box dates to c.1915 in St Petersburg by the Third Artel (who produced works for the Faberge atelier in what was formerly Petrograd, headed by Vasily Nikolaevich Ivanov), and features a hinged lid enamelled with a radiating wave design, decorated with a single laurel band beneath a gilt border, with the sides and base also white guilloche enamelled. The box measures to approximately 5.3 x 3.5 x 1.8 cm and comes to auction with an estimate of between £800 and £1,200.

The next highlight is the opening lot of the sale - a Charles II-style silver porringer and cover produced by William Gibson and John Lawrence Langman (Goldsmiths Co.) in 1897. The bellied, circular form, is decorated with running unicorn, lion, and floral designs with beaded scroll handles and figural thumbpieces. It stands at approximately 16.5 cm high, weighs 23 oz, and is estimated at £600 to £1000.

Lot 297 is a beautiful pair of 19th century Neapolitan bronze figures of The Venus of Capua and The Antinous Farnese, made after the ancient originals. The Venus of Capua was made during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117 - 138 AD) and is presumed to be a copy of an original lost Aphrodite attributed to Lysippus, one of the preeminent sculptors of Classical Greece. The Antinous Farnese is a marble sculpture of Hadrian’s lover Antinous, originally sculpted between 130 and 137 AD. The original is part of the Farnese Collection in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. The lot comes to us with good provenance from the property of John Kenworthy-Browne FSA, and with an estimate of £2,000 to £3,000.

Lot 300 is a 19th century marble sculpture after the Lorenzo Barolini original, depicting a reclining nude holding a tambourine. The sculpture stands at 30 cm high on a marble plinth base. The original sculpture of Bacchante is held in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The charming statuette comes with an estimate of £2,000 to £3,000.

Another highlight of the sale is lot 329 - a large (140 cm high) Belgian bronze torchere stand, dating to around 1870, made after a model by Jacques-Louis Gaulier and cast by the Compagnie Anonyme des Bronzes, Bruxelles. The Neo-Grec style stand features a dished top with palmettes and relief cast trailing foliage, a tapering shaft with swags descending to the base, and conforming palmettes and claw feet on its triform plinth. The base is inscribed with the name of the manufacturers, and the lot has a £2,000 to £3,000 estimate. Jacques-Louis Gautier - a pupil of François Rude - was born in Paris in 1831, and executed a significant number of models, produced by leading bronze foundries.

Lot 341 is an Italian Pietra Dura panel of a Venetian capriccio, dating to the 19th century, and inlaid in various hardstones. Featuring an arcaded building, obelisk, and various figures, this artwork is framed in gilt-bronze, measuring 42 x 49.5 cm overall. Lot 341 has an estimate of £3,000 to £4,000.

Another romantically decorated item in the upcoming Fine & Decorative auction is Lot 282 - a Vienna white porcelain mythological group made around 1749. Featuring a scantily clad Andromeda chained to a large rock, her robe tied with a strap over her shoulder, and Cupid flying down from above, the 31.9 cm high item is particularly handsome, and comes with a £800 to £1,200 estimate.

Lot 439 is a Regency rosewood breakfast side cabinet from around 1820, measuring 92 cm high, 199 cm wide, and 34 cm deep. The cabinet is parcel gilt with gilt metal mounts, and features a painted marble top above two central Japanned doors mounted with hardstone, shibayama, and bone, flanked by two pleated silk cupboard doors, and raised on toupie feet. With its chinoiserie doors and elegant form, the proportions of this side cabinet make it the perfect furnishing piece. Lot 439 comes to auction with an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000.

The last standout highlight of February 21st Fine & Decorative auction is lot 402, a set of four mahogany open fauteuils made in the late 18th century in the French taste. Two of the fauteuils are upholstered in yellow silk with floral design, and the other two are upholstered in a blue and white fabric. They feature a shaped back and curved armrests, and rest on cabriole legs. They are made in solid mahogany. These stylish fauteuils have elements of Portuguese design while retaining a classic eighteenth century classical form. They will be available at the upcoming sale with an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000.