Decorative Arts & Ephemera
Bone parquetry box decorated in the manner of Fornasetti, Venetian, mid C20th
Price: £85
A rectangular box with a hinged lid, the surface covered with small bone rectangular slabs laid in a parquetry technique and decorated on the sides with an architectural design in black, the interior showing the wood body of the piece. These boxes with their bone tessera like patterns combined with scenes of buildings were made in Venice probably from the 1950s to the 1970s. Some examples have a more stylised representation, as here, and some a more realistic depiction of Venetian palaces. The stylised architectural designs recall closely the work of the Italian artist Piero Fornasetti whose atelier produced ceramic vases with very similar decoration (see image 8 for an example) although it is not suggested that these boxes were the work of Fornasetti himself. The combination of building designs on a ground of what could be held to be building blocks is ingenious and the result stylish and attractive.
Framed Watercolour of a Countryside Scene, C20th
Price: £45
This is a highly attractive watercolour painting of a countryside scene. A river winds from left to right with a mother and child walking along a path in the foreground and trees and buildings to the rear. On the river sails a barge drawn by a horse which has just passed under the brick built bridge to which the couple are approaching. This is certainly a ‘period’ composition suggesting the nineteenth century but the artist, an accomplished amateur, was clearly working in the twentieth. If the frame is contemporary, then this indicates a dating to the 1960s or 1970s but this is admittedly something of a guess. But the charm of the piece is obvious and it would be an appealing addition to a modern home.
French Souvenir Verre Eglomise Box and Cover, Sacre Coeur de Montmatre, circa 1900
Price: £55
This box, and others like it, was probably made in France as a tourist souvenir in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Formed as a small casket, the base is of pressed brass with relief decoration and four small pad feet. The lid has a ‘verre eglomise’, or reverse painted glass, bevel edged panel set in a brass mount and the box is lined inside. Some of the decoration of the lid is probably transfer with other elements hand painted on the back of the glass in true ‘verre eglomise’ style. The scene depicted is the well known Basilica of Sacre Coeur situated on the top of Montmatre, one of the most frequently visited sites in Paris and therefore eminently suitable as the subject for a memento of the ‘great city’. This is the ‘Grand Tour’ style rather towards its end with cheaper materials and a more mechanical method of production but an authentic example of a period souvenir to tempt the traveller.
Abstract Heart Shape Ceramic Sculpture, Pier One Imports, late C20th
Price: £25
This is an unusual ceramic sculpture formed in the shape of a heart and glazed in a lustre finish of copper brown. These pieces appear to have been sold by the American firm Pier I Imports which traded as a physical presence from 1962 to 2020. Offering a stylish range of home furnishings the company had up to 1000 stores at its peak, but changing market conditions forced it into liquidation in 2020, eventually being bought out by Retail ECommerce Ventures (REV) which now operates the brand online as Dallas-based Pier 1 Imports Online, Inc. Towards the end of its trading history from its stores, a new range of items was brought in to appeal to a new and wider audience. This piece may well be one of them and, if so, is a quirky souvenir of the original business.
Vintage Needlepoint Picture of a Garden Scene, framed, second half C20th
Price: £25
This is a charming embroidery on canvas employing the so called ‘needlepoint’ technique in which over half a dozen stitching techniques are used as opposed to ‘cross stitch’ which uses only one. The varieties of technique employed here can be clearly seen in the detail images (3), (4) and (5). The picture depicts a garden scene with a bird bath and path in the foreground leading to a gate with a pergola like floral arch over it and, in the distance, a thatched cottage. The attraction of the design speaks for itself. Dating is difficult but most likely post war and the frame suggests the mid to late twentieth century.
Vintage Needlepoint Picture of a lady dressed in a crinoline, framed, probably 1930s
Price: £25
Like the previous lot this embroidery picture employs the so called ‘needlepoint’ technique in which over half a dozen stitching techniques are used as opposed to ‘cross stitch’ which uses only one. The varieties of technique employed here can be clearly seen in the detail images (2), (3) and (4). We have another garden composition, this time a lady dressed in a crinoline gathering flowers and standing on a paved terrace (note the weeds between the paving stones!) with roses and hollyhocks. There are other similar examples of this scene which are thought to be from the prewar era and the slight foxing of the canvas and the form of the frame itself are consistent with this.
Framed Oil Painting on Board of a Winter Landscape Scene, C20th
Price: £55
Clearly the work of an accomplished amateur artist, this dramatic landscape painting of a snowy winter scene shows a gabled house set by a river with reeds and trees in the foreground and craggy snow capped mountains in the background. The location is really a matter of guesswork but the building resembles some found in Holland which might indicate a Dutch setting. The grandeur of the scene is obvious with the mountainous outcrops graphically depicted. The board surface used and the style of the frame suggests a mid to late twentieth century dating but this picture would grace a room setting of any age.
Arts and Crafts Brass and Cobalt Glass Salt and Pepper, early C20th
Price: £55
An unusual pair of condiment servers for salt and pepper in which cobalt blue glass, more normally associated with the liners for pieces of a condiment set, is combined with brass metal in curious almost water-dropper like form, the ovoid glass body encased in non-functioning hinged brass mountings with a spreading foot, open at the base, narrow necks and screw top stoppers with a single hole for salt and multiple holes for pepper. There are few parallels for this design but it has characteristics of pieces produced by craftsmen working in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement which flourished in Britain from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s. Ornament "must be secondary to the thing decorated", declared the designer Owen Jones, and said there must be “fitness in the ornament to the thing ornamented". The rather austere design here, which admits decoration but concentrates on function, seems to follow the precepts laid down and provides an interesting example of the movement’s style.
Two small metal perfume Flasks and Stoppers, 1920s
Price: £35
Two small metal flasks, the first in brass of rounded rectangular form with a ball shape stopper, the surface plain, and the second in copper of ovoid form again with a ball shape stopper and also a loose ring handle, the surface with beaten decoration of a repeating design of small circles. The shapes of both of these are usually described as perfume bottles which makes sense here where the stoppers are both screw top. The copper example was perhaps intended for attachment to a belt and the size of either would have made them suitable travelling accessories. Dating is probably to the 1920s and the beaten decoration of the second is a feature of pieces made under the influence of the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement which flourished in Britain from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
Two Corgi Silver Jubilee Toys Boxed, (41) State Landau, (417) London Bus, 1977
Price: £45
The silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 stimulated the production of a near avalanche of commemorative items. Mettoy, the manufacturers of the well known brand of Corgi toys, played their part in this producing a model of the 1902 state landau used in the royal processions and an accompanying model of a silver jubilee London bus with its special silver livery colour. The state landau is an example of their rather more ambitious pieces with the carriage rendered in great detail and the figures of the Queen and Prince Philip realistically modelled. The designer also allowed himself to include a corgi dog, appropriate for two quite distinct reasons. The bus is a typical example of the ‘Corgi Toys’ collected by so many during the years of their production and indeed thereafter. The typical ‘Corgi Toy’ was finely cast with detailed modelling and colouring accurately reflecting the features of its original. The two together, then, complete with their original boxes and in in good condition are a souvenir in themselves of a whole area of collecting.
Pair of Arts and Crafts Pewter Salts, early C20th
Price: £45
A pair of small salts, pewter and of circular form with brass bands to the top and bottom and inset glass beads in green, red and blue. The rather austere and slightly mediaeval appearance of these salts indicates the influence of the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement which flourished in Britain from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s. Ornament "must be secondary to the thing decorated", declared the designer Owen Jones, and said there must be “fitness in the ornament to the thing ornamented". Certainly, there are few traces of florid decoration here as is the case with the salt and pepper set elsewhere in this sale. These pieces may date slightly later and there are silver serviette rings in the same format which are hallmarked for 1933 which may explain why they also have a slightly Art Deco feel in their simplicity of design.
Set of Three Japanese Lacquer Nesting Trays, mid to late C20th
Price: £45
This is a fine quality set of three Japanese lacquer trays designed in a ‘nesting’ format so that the two smaller fit into the largest. Each is finished in red lacquer with an elaborate and detailed gilt and enamel design of two peacocks in a garden scene with peony and bamboo, the rims gilt and the openwork handles with beige plastic loops, the sides and reverse in black lacquer. The art of lacquer ware (漆器, shikki) has been practised in Japan since the earliest times and pieces from the Meiji period (1868-1912) are particularly collectible today. These trays are much later, the use of plastic suggesting the 1950s or 1960s but the quality is still there and their excellent condition allows the skill of the workmanship to be fully appreciated. Highly decorative in themselves they are functional as well!
Octagonal Agate Mortar Bowl, C20th
Price: £25
Truly Art Deco in style, the form of this bowl, octagonal with flaring sides and an upright bevel edged rim, deeply cut out to a rounded interior, is however normally regarded as a mortar shape and would have been used with a pestle, probably in the same material. Commonly used in a laboratory context for grinding samples these agate pieces are very much fit for purpose since the stone is much harder than porcelain, thus reducing the level of impurities introduced during the grinding process. Found in a wide variety of locations including Italy, Africa and Brazil, agate, a form of chalcedony with a wide variety of banding effects, was used for jewellery from the earliest of times but has also had practical uses because of its hardness. This bowl shows the typical banding effects of the stone but perhaps because most likely intended for practical use an impurity in the piece used has been left visible (see image 5).
Pedestal footed Onyx Vase, mid to late C20th
Price: £25
An onyx vase the body of slender ovoid form with a tall slightly flaring straight neck, hollow inside, supported by a spreading pedestal foot, the stone with typical and colourful banding effects. Onyx is named from the Greek 'ónux', meaning “nail,” or “claw,” and is a variety of the mineral chalcedony, a kind of quartz. Onyx with flesh-coloured and white bands can sometimes resemble a fingernail and a similar effect is seen here. Found in many parts of the world, its source can never be determined with certainty but an Italian origin is likely here. The style of the piece suggests the 1960s or 1970s