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Lot 388
The Pelham Water Buffalo. An Exceptional Chinese Imperial Spinach-Green Jade Water Buffalo with a Fine Gilt Bronze Stand. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period 1736-95, 20.8cm long. Description: The recumbent beast with a serene mildly inquisitive expression, carved from a massive spinach-green boulder; is depicted with his head turned and raised to the right, his facial features with flaring nostrils and alert eyes, framed by horns curling back to his spine, the trumpet-shaped ears and horns finely incised with lines depicting the fur, his dewlap beneath the neck naturalistically carved flowing down to the base, the form of the body accentuated by the superbly defined spine extending to the tail that curls above his hind leg, all four hooves boldly carved on the underside. The gilt bronze base incised with flowers and foliage to the surface above a key fret band bearing a four character Qianlong mark. A narrow band of scrolling flowers and foliage dividing elaborated stylized lappets and with a second key fret band at the foot. Paper label for John Sparks Ltd. 128 Mount Street London. And another inscribed 'The property of Sackville, 5th. Earl of Yarborough'. Provenance: Purchased from John Sparks Ltd. 24th June 1938 for £300. Listed in the Sparks archive as "No. 2988 - 1 v.fine green jade Buffalo, gilt stand, Ming". The property of the late Sackville George Pelham, the 5th Earl of Yarborough, d.1948, and thence by descent. Sackville George Pelham, 5th Earl of Yarborough, MC (17 December 1888 -7 February 1948) was a British peer and soldier, known as Lord Worsley from 1914-1926 and Lord Conyers from 1926 until his accession to the earldom in 1936. Pelham was the second son of Charles Pelham, 4th Earl of Yarborough and his wife, Marcia. In 1910, he became a Second Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars and initially fought as a lieutenant in France during World War I before being promoted to the rank of captain in 1916. During the war his elder brother, Charles, was killed in action and Sackville assumed the former's courtesy title of Lord Worsley. After the war, he was awarded the Military Cross and retired from the Army in 1919 when he married Nancy Brocklehurst (a niece of Lord Ranksborough). On the death of his father in 1936, Sackville inherited the earldom; in the same year he commanded the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry as a Lieutenant Colonel, being posted to Palestine at the outbreak of World War II. On returning to Britain in October 1940, the ship carrying the Earl and Countess of Yarborough came under enemy fire and was sunk. Although most of the passengers and crew survived, the Earl contracted respiratory problems from the smoke, which contributed to his early death in 1948 at the age of 59. His jade buffalo then became the property of his eldest daughter, Lady Diana Miller, who in the same year emigrated to Southern Africa. Whilst the existence of this piece of jade was not in doubt, its whereabouts were subject to some speculation. Many of the Earl's possessions would appear to have been packed and placed in storage at the outbreak of the Second World War and over the subsequent years some inventory records were mislaid. In 2005 Lady Diana Miller returned to the United Kingdom. A large wooden chest, thought to contain porcelain, was opened in July of that year. Inside, amongst the various items, was found an old wooden box, sealed with rusty nails, string and sealing wax. The box was opened for the first time in 65 years, and inside, carefully wrapped in newspapers dated 1940, were the magnificent jade buffalo and its gilt bronze pedestal. Catalogue Note: A small number of large jade carvings, mainly of water buffaloes and horses, were included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1975, cat. Nos.391-7. They are discussed in the accompanying Transactions of the Oriental Ceramics Society, vol.40, 1973-75, p.118, as being: 'among the most ambitious and monumental examples of jade ever worked in China and perhaps all of them once had their place in the pavilions of the various palaces of Peking.' Another animal from this series, looted from the Summer Palace Beijing in 1860, and reputedly rescued on the troop ship from a soldier who was trying to destroy it, now in the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, was included in the exhibition Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, The British Museum, London 1995, cat.no..26:19. The Jacob Goldschmidt buffalo was exhibited at the influential Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst and Preußische Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1929, cat.no.1085. The Oscar Raphael buffalo, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, formed part of the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1975, together with two other jade buffaloes, cat.nos.395-7. Compare the superb gilt bronze stand with those of a pair of spinach-green jade lion dog censers from the Palace Museum, Beijing, GU103379 and GU103380, illustrated: China The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, no.21. The Water Buffalo. The water buffalo is the traditional symbol of spring, strength and tranquillity. Its bucolic aspect evokes the simple and true life in the countryside, and as the reputed mount of the philosopher Laozi, the buffalo has strong Daoist connotations. An important animal in all rice cultivation societies, we find buffaloes depicted in art dating back thousands of years. The Chinese practice of lining the shores of lakes and rivers with bronze buffaloes dates from the Tang dynasty. It is based on the belief that Da Yu, the legendary emperor who is credited with founding the Xia dynasty, (circa 2100 - 1600 BC) and controlled China's floodwaters, used to place iron buffaloes beside each of his projects. The most famous is the bronze example overlooking Lake Kunming in Beijing's Summer Palace, which was cast and then personally dedicated by The Emperor Qianlong in 1755. With thanks to Miss Ching-Yi Huang of SOAS for her help in researching the Sparks' archive. Est: Refer Department
Lot 22
After the Antique: A pair of Handyside foundry cast iron Medici urns 2nd half 19th century 72cm.; 28ins high Andrew Handyside : Ironfounders (1806-87). Britannia Iron Works, Derby 1851. Great Exhibition exhibited Medici vases, bacchanalian vase and a bronzed vase decorated with busts of Peel, Nelson, Watt, Wellington, Stephenson, Scott, Shakespeare and Milton, and a fountain; at the time was described as being "from the magnitude of its operations is second to none in England" 1873 incorporated at a Limited Company. They produced two catalogues one possibly in 1850 and one in 1873. The Medici urn was first recorded in 1598 in the inventory of the Villa Medici, Rome although there is evidence that it was there at least thirty years earlier. In 1780 it was removed to Florence and soon entered the Uffizi where it remains today. The vase was one of the most popularly reproduced antiquities being copied in marble, bronze, terracotta, alabaster and cast iron and was commonly paired with the similarly shaped Borghese vase. See also lots 396 and 399
Lot 27
* The Wrest Park Finials: A pair of extremely rare and fine lead lidded finials attributed to John Van Nost: 274cm.; 108ins high overall The garden at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire begun in the 1680's by Antony Grey, 11th Earl of Kent and continued by his son, Henry, created 1st Duke of Kent was one of the grandest and most admired gardens established in England in the first part of the 18th Century. It's roots lay in the Anglo- Dutch gardens of the 1690's and were intended to convey the Grey family's political support of William and Mary and the Glorious Revolution. Among contemporary documents that demonstrate Wrest's high reputation is the record of a garden tour in 1735, in which the gardens were described as " undoubtedly some of ye finest in England". Wrest had already been singled out for praise in 1781 in the Ichnographica Rustica of Stephen Switzer and John Mackay who included it in the fourth edition of his Journey through England in 1724 repeated what was probably the standard view of Wrest when he called it "A very magnificent, noble Seat, with large Parks, Avenues and fine Gardens". Wrest was one of only four estates that appeared in multiple views in Kip and Knyff's Britannia Illustrata. A generation later in 1735 Wrest was one of the earliest great gardens to be published in a large garden plan by John Rocque in which these finials can be seen flanking the entrance to the Duke's Square garden. John van Nost who died in 1729 was from a family of sculptors of Flemish descent. He had his own yard in the Haymarket, London by about 1687 and soon established himself as the leading maker of 'Marble and Leaden figures, Busto's and noble Vases, Marble chimneypieces and curious Marble tables'. John van Nost is recorded as having supplied the two large lead vases, still in the Wrest Bowling Green House and eight lead heads for the Duke of Kent in 1725 , and it is generally accepted that he supplied the impressive lead statue of William III in1710-20 which still stands in front of the Pavilion at Wrest. Stylistically, however, this impressive pair of lead finials with their strongly modelled amorini or cherub heads date to the very early part of the 18th century and were probably commissioned by the 11th Duke prior to his death in 1702. They were cast using the cire perdu or lost wax process which gives a crispness of detail and modelling seldom achieved in later works. The flame terminals, in particular are a tour de force with each flame tendril separately accentuated. By the late 1720's however, both finials were on pedestals dedicated to the 1st Duke's children; Anthony de Grey, Earl of Harrold who died in 1723 and his favourite daughter Annabell who died in 1727. They were placed in the Duke's square garden and removed by the vendors great grandfather when Wrest Park was sold in the late 1930's. A Portland stone sundial attributed to van Nost and originally at Wrest sold by the same family who bought Wrest Park in 1917 and thus with an identical provenance to these finials, was sold by Sotheby's on 15th June 2004. This carried a bronze sundial by the celebrated clockmaker Thomas Tompion. The pedestal is virtually identical to one at Kew Gardens, documented as being made by van Nost, which originally stood a Kensington Palace and was made for William III between 1688 and 1702. Literature; The Duke of Kent's garden at Wrest Park by Linda Cabe Halpern, published by the Journal of Garden History. Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis Auction catalogue of the sale of Wrest Park, July 1917 Provenance Wrest Park, near Shefford, Bedfordshire, seat of the Grey Family, Earls and later Dukes of Kent. The Park was purchased in1917 by the great grandfather of the current owner.
Lot 120
Isaac Kahn, Acrobat born 1950 Bronze variegated green patination from an edition of 9 48½cm.; 19ins wide by 40cm.; 16ins high Isaac Kahn was born in 1950 in Kaunas, Lithuania. When he was 14 he moved to Israel where he enrolled in Art College before moving to Uruguay in 1973 where he continued his studies at the University of Plastic Arts in Montevideo. In 1975 at the age of 25 he presented his first one man exhibition in the exhibition hall of Montevideo where one of his works was purchased by the widow of the President of Uruguay. . In 1984 he began working in Italy before settling there in 1991. He opened a gallery in Verona showing his work. He has exhibited widely and his work can now be found in public and private collections in the USA, South America, Israel, Europe, Japan and Korea.
Lot 127
Marjan Wouda, Born 1960 Standing Stork Bronze variegated green grey-brown patination Marjan Wouda grew up in Holland before moving to England where she studied fine art at both Manchester Polytechnic and North East London Polytechnic where she obtained a First Class Honours degree. Her piece Germinations IV was selected for an International travelling exhibition. In 1987 she returned to Manchester to complete her MA in sculpture. Marjan has completed several large scale Public commissions for the towns of Leigh, Preston, Lancaster, Newcastle upon Tyne and Ashton-under-Lyne as well as for the London Docklands Development Corporation. Internationally her work can be seen at the new British Consulate in Hong Kong as well as Ireland and Holland.
Lot 775
William III & later farthings: 1700, about fair, 1734 and 1736, fine or better, 1736, 1754 & 1799, fair, 1806, fine, 1822 (2), very fine or better, 1831 (2), one fine and one very fine, 1839, minor edge bruises, otherwise very fine, 1841, fair or better and bronze, 1874 H, plus half farthings, 1843 or 1844 (6), one with attempted pierce, otherwise fine or better and George III, contemporary counterfeit halfpenny, 1794, fair (21)
Lot 780
George III & later, AE, various dates: George III, twopence, cleaned and pennies, George III (4), George IV (1), William IV (2), Victoria, copper issue (8) and bronze issue, young head (17) and old head (1), plus Victoria, bronze issue, young head farthings (3), mainly fair, with a few better (37)
Lot 785
Victoria, young head, various dates: shillings (3), threehalfpence, copper issue, halfpenny, farthing and half farthing and bronze issue, penny, halfpennies (4), farthing and third farthings (2), plus George IV, shilling, 1826 and George III, farthing, 1806, mainly fine, with some better (17)
Lot 786
Victoria, young head, AE, various dates: copper issue, half farthings (4) and bronze issue, pennies, inc. one 1861, very fine (3), halfpennies (2) and third farthing, 1885, good very fine, with lustre traces, plus later Victorian, AR, various dates: jubilee head, crown, double florin, shilling and sixpence and old head, florin and shilling, mainly fair, with a few better, unless stated (16)
![[Hunting Interest] An Austrian cold painted bronze car mascot, early 20th century, of a fox riding a hound, the former in a](http://lot-images.atgmedia.com/SR/10054/2770934/370-64-10054_468x382.jpg)
Lot 124
A 19th Century large bronze medallion for the "Queensland Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition"; a smaller bronze medal "The Smallholders Championship Medal" together with a quantity of base metal Victorian and later medallions, mainly Royal Commemorative; 1905 Gigantic Wheel at Earls Court; George V silver Jubilee medal and others
Lot 321
A late 19th Century pottery vase by Boch Freres of low shouldered form with a tapered body and ring neck with four applied loop handles decorated in the Art Nouveau style with stylised fruiting vines in bronze lustre with gilded highlights over a deep red ground, enamelled signature, height 14.5cm.
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