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Lot 272
Peter Sellers signed 6x4 black and white photo. Sellers CBE was an English actor, comedian and singer. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show, featured on a number of hit comic songs and became known to a worldwide audience through his many film roles, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series. Good condition Est.
Lot 310
Charlton Heston Signed 10x8 colour photo. Pictured in his role as Moses in the 10 Commandments. Heston was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film The Ten Commandments, for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Good condition Est.
Lot 438
Doctor Who, Tom Baker and Philip Madoc signed 12x8 colour promo photograph for The Power of Kroll, which is the fifth serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 23 December 1978 to 13 January 1979. Good condition Est.
Lot 440
Sleeping Beauty, Mary Costa signed 10x8 colour animation photograph. Costa (born April 5, 1930) is an American retired opera singer and actress. Her most notable film credit is providing the voice of Princess Aurora in the 1959 Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty, of which she is the last surviving original voice actress of the first three Disney Princesses created in Walt Disney's lifetime and for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1999. Good condition Est.
Lot 525
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood signed 4x3 album page dated June 5th, 1942. Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary; 25 April 1897 - 28 March 1965), was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of the current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. In the First World War, she performed charity work in support of servicemen and their families. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles (later the 6th Earl of Harewood), in 1922. Mary was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932. During the Second World War, she was Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Good condition Est.
Lot 527
Bishop John Percival signed 4x1 approx page cutting. John Percival (27 September 1834 - 3 December 1918) was the first headmaster of Clifton College, where he made his reputation as a great educator. In his 17 years at Clifton numbers rose to 680. He accepted the presidency of Trinity College, Oxford, to recover from his years at Clifton. It was from Trinity that he went to Rugby to become headmaster of Rugby School before becoming Bishop of Hereford. Good condition Est.
Lot 625
Lotte Lenya signed 6x3 album page. Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 - 27 November 1981) was an Austrian American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). She also played the murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963). Good condition Est.
Lot 681
WW2 Sqn Ldr Tony Iveson Signed the Sinking of the Tirpitz Flown First Day Cover. Image Shows Frank Wootton Artwork of a Lancaster Bomber. 35 of 50 Certified Covers Issued. Flown in A Lancaster Over Normandy Beaches. 2 British Stamps with 617 Squadron Postmark. Good Condition. Good condition Est.
Lot 202
§ Lynn Chadwick C.B.E. R.A. (British 1914-2003) Maquette for Stranger, 1961 6/6, model 340, signed and numbered, bronze with green / brown patina(31.5cm high, 26.3cm wide (12.3in high, 10.3in wide))Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 1 July 1991, Lot 125; Private Collection, London.Footnote: Literature: Bowness, A., Lynn Chadwick, Methuen, London, 1962, unpaginated (another cast illustrated); Farr, D. and É. Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick Sculptor: With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, p.192, no.340 (another cast illustrated). The subject of the ‘Stranger’ occupied Chadwick over the period from 1954 until 1969, in a formal theme which also informed the contemporary ‘Winged Figure’ works. As Alan Bowness explained in his 1962 monograph about the artist, the stimulus was Chadwick’s controversial commission from the Air League of the British Empire in 1957, to create a memorial to the 1919 double crossing of the Atlantic by the airship R34. Having served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during World War Two, Chadwick had a deeply personal experience of flight and link to the concept of a winged figure, itself embedded in the myth of Icarus. In Maquette for Stranger, the power of the anonymous figure’s torso and spread-out winged arms is contradicted by its tapering, spindly legs. It has a monumentality and stillness which yet suggests strength in movement. As Bowness continued ‘the Strangers and Watchers seem to be tensed: waiting, aware that something is going to happen…the tensions arise directly from the sculptor’s treatment of surface. His technique leads him to build an armature, constructed from straight rods, and this becomes the skin as well as the bone of the figure. Everything is thus brought on to the surface, and the network of rigid lines and absence of curves is somehow expressive of a high pitch of nervous intensity, possessed by these strange immobile creatures.’ (Bowness, op.cit., unpaginated). Such was the significance of Maquette for Stranger that a cast of it was selected by the British Council for inclusion in the VI Bienal de São Paulo of 1961, shortly after its creation. Herbert Read wrote about the sculptor’s contribution to the British presentation: ‘Lynn Chadwick’s vision has penetrated a psychic region where man is a tensed geometrical aeronaut, watching the skies, wings folded or outspread for flight. Such is the new image of man, the archetype of a space age.’ (Herbert Read, ‘Lynn Chadwick’, VI Bienal de São Paulo, exh.cat., 1961 quoted in Michael Bird, Lynn Chadwick, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, p. 115). Chadwick was declared hors concours, or ‘beyond competition’ at the biennial, the first time a British artist had been thus honoured.
Lot 230
§ Vassilakis Takis (Greek 1925-2019) Signal, 1968 series 3, number 96, titled and numbered on 'Unlimited Bath Widcome Manor' label (to underside), enameled aluminium, chrome-plated metal, plastic, glass and electric system(220cm high, 23cm wide, 26cm deep (86.7in high, 9in wide, 10.25in deep))Footnote: “It’s only about revealing, in one way or another, the sensory vibrations or the interlacing potentials for energy that exist in the universe […] I think that’s the role of an artist” (Takis in an interview in G. Brett & M. Wellen (ed.s), Takis, Tate Modern, London and tour, exh. cat., 2019) Panayiotis Vassilakis, known as Takis, is considered one of the most important figures of international contemporary art. Despite having no formal training and not beginning to practice art until the age of twenty, Takis became one of the leading artists of the twentieth and twenty-first century, in particular for his development of kinetic art from the late 1950s. His early work in the 1940s was strongly influenced by Picasso and Giacometti – their exaggerated, caricatural figures were particularly interesting to the young artist. The 1950s saw Takis begin his instantly recognizable Signals series, one which he returns to throughout his career. It is said that his inspiration for this series arose while waiting for a train and becoming fascinated by the trackside signals, which provoked him to reject representational art and pursue sculpture that includes light and movement. These sculptures are imposing, otherworldly creations topped with metal shapes or flashing lights which sway in response to vibrations around them. This series would go on to include motors, bulbs, and fireworks and demonstrates his interest in researching movement and energies. His interest in the interlacing potentials for energy was so prolific that he was awarded a scholarship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Center of Advanced Visual Studies where he continued his studies into electromagnetic forces and the importance of energy binding us together. We are delighted to offer the important number 96 from Series 3 of the Signals series dating to 1968. This piece comprises two long enamelled aluminium poles standing over two metres high with flashing green, amber, and orange lights to the top. These long, flexible rods bend and move to create an almost musical harmony of colour and vibration. Takis’s legacy is clear from his extensive career: from his first one-man show in London in 1955 to his retrospective at Tate Modern in 2019, months before his death at the age of 93. Not only remembered for his important contribution as a visual artist, in 1969 he was also a co-founder of the Art Workers’ Coalition who fought for economic and political rights for artists in New York. Moreover in 1986 he founded the Takis Foundation in Athens, a foundation whose mission is to research and develop the arts and sciences, continuing his work and ensuring his legacy. The works of Panayiotis Vassilakis are important both in the development of a new aesthetic language exploring vibrations and light, and in their scientific exploration of energy. His work, and particularly his celebrated Signals series can be found in many important public collections such as Tate Modern in London, MoMA in New York, and in the UNESCO art collection in Paris.
Lot 256
§ Ian Davenport (British 1966-) Untitled, 1988 signed and dated (to reverse), oil on canvas(55.5cm x 55.5cm (21.9in x 21.9in))Provenance: Richard Salmon Gallery, London. Instantly recognisable for his signature pouring of paint onto a tilted surface, the work of abstract artist Ian Davenport occupy a significant place in contemporary British art. These early paintings date from the formative period of his career between graduating from Goldsmiths College in 1988, and his first solo exhibition in 1990 and Turner Prize nomination in 1991. His abstract paintings are created by pouring layers of paint onto prepared canvases or board making complex colour combinations that visualise the artist’s fascination with colour and its importance in establishing the boundaries between representation and abstraction, evoking the processes of the Post-painterly Abstraction movement in America in the 1950s and 60s. Often employing unconventional materials such as electric fans and nails, Davenport’s work explores the materiality of paint as a subject matter in its own right, creating compositions that considers the act of painting as well as the importance of visual harmony.
Lot 257
§ Ian Davenport (British 1966-) Untitled, circa 1989 signed and dated (to reverse), oil on canvas(151.5cm x 113.5cm (59.6in x 44.75in))Provenance: Karsten Schubert Ltd., London; Timothy Taylor Gallery, London; Richard Salmon Gallery, London. Instantly recognisable for his signature pouring of paint onto a tilted surface, the work of abstract artist Ian Davenport occupies a significant place in contemporary British art. These early paintings date from the formative period of his career between graduating from Goldsmiths College in 1988, and his first solo exhibition in 1990 and Turner Prize nomination in 1991. His abstract paintings are created by pouring layers of paint onto prepared canvases or board making complex colour combinations that visualise the artist’s fascination with colour and its importance in establishing the boundaries between representation and abstraction, evoking the processes of the Post-painterly Abstraction movement in America in the 1950s and 60s. Often employing unconventional materials such as electric fans and nails, Davenport’s work explores the materiality of paint as a subject matter in its own right, creating compositions that considers the act of painting as well as the importance of visual harmony.
Lot 263
§ Sir Peter Blake C.B.E. R.D.I. R.A. (British 1932-) for Aram Designs Limited Two 'Step' Lamps Finnish birch plywood(Taller lamp: 143cm high (56.25in high) (including shade); Smaller lamp: 110cm high (43.25in high) (including shade))Footnote: ‘When I was asked by Zeev Aram to design a piece of furniture for his exhibition, my first thought was, which is the ‘simplest’ furniture – a table. So I designed a table. I wanted it to be very basic, as though a child had drawn it, like a kitchen table. Then I chose to have it made from thick plywood, to make the legs from ply, and turn the ‘constructed’ surface to the front of the table, to show how it was made. The construction of the corners is always the same, as a table can be made to order by simply giving the size of the table top and the height. It can be plain wood, sealed, or stained white, black and primary colours, on their own or a combination – red, yellow and blue. Later I decided that a lamp which matched the table would be interesting, and designed that too.’ (Peter Blake, 1986 quoted in accompanying Aram Design Limited catalogue)
Lot 264
§ Sir Peter Blake C.B.E. R.D.I. R.A. (British 1932-) for Aram Designs Limited Two 'Simple' Tables comprising a dining table and low table, Finnish birch plywood, the low table painted(the dining table 71.5cm high, 90cm wide and 90cm deep (28.25in high, 35.5in wide, 35.5in deep); the low table 38cm high, 62.5cm wide and 62.5cm deep (15.25in high, 24in wide, 24in deep))Footnote: ‘When I was asked by Zeev Aram to design a piece of furniture for his exhibition, my first thought was, which is the ‘simplest’ furniture – a table. So I designed a table. I wanted it to be very basic, as though a child had drawn it, like a kitchen table. Then I chose to have it made from thick plywood, to make the legs from ply, and turn the ‘constructed’ surface to the front of the table, to show how it was made. The construction of the corners is always the same, as a table can be made to order by simply giving the size of the table top and the height. It can be plain wood, sealed, or stained white, black and primary colours, on their own or a combination – red, yellow and blue. Later I decided that a lamp which matched the table would be interesting, and designed that too.’ (Peter Blake, 1986 quoted in accompanying Aram Design Limited catalogue)
Lot 274
§ William Turnbull (British 1922-2012) Figure, 1984 4/6, monogrammed, numbered and dated, bronze(78.5cm high, 16cm wide, 15cm deep (31in high, 6.25in wide, 6in deep))Footnote: Literature: Davidson, Amanda A., The Sculpture of William Turnbull, The Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2005, cat. no. 228, illustrated p.164 (another cast illustrated). Exhibited: London, Waddington Galleries, William Turnbull, 1998, cat. no. 9 (another cast). In its suggestion of the human figure in the simplest possible form, Figure of 1984 simultaneously references some of Turnbull’s works of the late 1940s and early 1950s whilst linking to further exploration of the theme in sculptures such as Figure 2 and Small Female Figure of the early 1990s. Indeed, Turnbull returned to the human form throughout his long and distinguished career, through materials including plaster, bronze and steel (sometimes painted), with degrees of representation and abstraction ebbing and flowing over the decades. In this work, an elongated torso is extended to incorporate legs and neck, from which open, curved arms protrude. The sculptor’s touch is clear in pronounced modelling throughout, with suggested facial features on a head-like form. Although at first glance a work based on a frontal view, the viewer cannot comprehend the full scope of its three dimensions without moving around it, to see the extent of the arms’ reach and the rhythm, open-ness and implied welcome of their stance. The work’s various profiles are as important as its physical form. Figure illustrates Patrick Elliott’s summation of Turnbull’s practice, namely that ‘his work invariably combined formal simplicity with surface complexity along with poise and balance: these remained the principal characteristics of his entire oeuvre.’ (Patrick Elliott, ‘Turnbull, William [Bill] (1922-2012)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line version of 1 January 2017, accessed 25 March 2022). Turnbull combined ambiguity with open-ended intention in much of his work, by which he hoped to stimulate multiple references, ideas and connections when it was experienced. As Amanda A. Davidson concluded in her 2005 catalogue raisonné of Turnbull’s sculpture ‘the conversation between the artist and their materials inevitably comes to an end when the process of making the work is completed. However, the conversation between the viewers and the work never ceases.’ (Amanda A. Davidson, op.cit., p. 74).
Lot 72
Ernest Procter A.R.A. (British 1885-1935) The Long Range Bombardment of Dunkirk, circa 1918 signed, indisctinctly dated and inscribed 'FRANCE' (lower right), oil on canvas(49cm x 59.5cm (19.3in x 23.4in))Footnote: Literature: TIS, 'About Dod & Ernest Procter', Colour, April 1919, vol. 10, no.3, p. 51 (illustrated) This major work is the long-lost The Long Range Bombardment of Dunkirk which has recently come to light in a private collection. As Elizabeth Knowles has explained ‘Ernest [Procter] made relatively few major oil paintings of war subjects, perhaps the most notable being The Long Range Bombardment of Dunkirk from sketches and notes made on the spot. (Elizabeth Knowles, ‘Ernest Procter ARA 1886-1935’, Dod Procter RA 1892-1982 and Ernest Procter ARA 1886-1935, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1990, p. 32). Ernest Procter was born in Tynemouth, Northumberland into a Quaker family. He trained at Leeds Art School and then under Stanhope Forbes in Newlyn, where he met the artist Doris ‘Dod’ Shaw (1890-1972). They furthered their studies at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and married in 1912; Dod was thereafter known by her married name and their son Bill was born the following year. The couple worked and exhibited together, most significantly on the decoration of the Kokine Palace, Rangoon, Burma in 1919-20 and in joint exhibitions held at The Fine Art Society and the Leicester Galleries in 1913 and 1926 respectively. Following the Procters’ return from Burma, Ernest established an art school in Newlyn with Harold Harvey (1874-1971), which they ran until the mid-1920s. Procter played a leading role in the Cornish art world, whilst maintaining a high profile in London. He was a member of the St Ives Society of Arts and Newlyn Society of Artists, joined the New English Art Club in 1929 and was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy three years later. He was best known for the allegorical figure compositions and landscapes which were regularly shown in group exhibitions such as those at the Royal Glasgow Institute, Royal Hibernian Academy and the International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers. In 1934, Procter was appointed Director of Studies in Design and Craft at Glasgow School of Art, but he died the following year. Memorial exhibitions were mounted at the Leicester Galleries and Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. In line with his religious beliefs, Procter declared himself a conscientious objector on the outbreak of World War One. The Friends' Ambulance Unit was established soon afterwards by a group of young Quakers, as a means for civilian volunteers to contribute to the war effort in a non-violent way. The Unit travelled to Dunkirk in October 1914 under the auspices of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Procter’s personnel records reveal that he joined it on 11 April 1916, arrived in Dunkirk on 12 June 1916 and served until his demobilisation on 2 February 1919. His duties included care of the wounded, ambulance maintenance and quartermaster tasks. He also designed and decorated Red Cross huts and camp entertainment, whilst recording his experiences in sketches, drawings and paintings as circumstances permitted. Towards the end of the war, Procter applied to the Ministry of Information for a permit to depict the work of the Red Cross on the Western Front. He was engaged under Scheme 3 of the British War Memorials Committee, whereby in return for facilities, Procter was to offer the first option on all the work he made to the committee, with no salary or expenses. His permit was granted in November 1918. This gave him just a few months before demobilisation to produce the work he carried out for the Royal Army Medical Corps section and was presented for approval in February 1919; six watercolours were acquired and are now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. They are held alongside a significant number of Procter’s World War One drawings and one of his sketchbooks from the period (see https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=ernest+procter&pageSize=30&media-records=all-records&style=list accessed 1 April 2022). Long Range Bombardment of Dunkirk is thought to be an extraordinarily personal and direct account of the major German offensive against the French city which took place over 20 to 23 March 1918, culminating in the use of a German long-range gun situated twenty miles away. Indeed, the painting could act as an illustration of the diary entry for 24 March 1918 written by Procter’s friend Molly Evans (1890-1974), who served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse with the Friends’ Ambulance Unit based in the local Queen Alexandra Hospital. This concludes ‘unending stream of sorting people, carrying bedsteads, personal belongings, mixed up. Glorious sunny day. Queer scene. Frenchmen, lunatics, Chinese carrying things on bamboo sticks, nuns, English sisters, patients, officers, orderlies, all collecting ‘goods’, a procession of Chinese carrying 7 coffins through it all. Crashing shells at intervals. A weary & never-to-be-forgotten day.’ (see https://www.morganfourman.com/articles/hospital-evacuation-under-fire-dunkirk-20-23-mar-1918/ accessed 26 March 2022). Seen from the point of view of the fleeing civilians whom Procter was in the region to aid, he depicts the nearby dunes strewn with refugees and members of the military, streaming away from the city which burns in the background. The towers of the church of Saint Éloi and the town hall are visible in the skyline – of which an annotated sketch is in the Imperial War Museum’s archive (War Artist Archive: Ernest Procter, ART/WA1/298, 'Belgium misc’ portfolio). The image is full of sensitively observed human relationships, between adults and children of all ages, interspersed with animals. Children play whilst grown-ups survey the scene before them, overlooked by a cross on a dune to the upper left, which may refer to Christ’s crucifixion at Calvary. Sunshine and shadow are captured over the flow of the dunes, whilst a use of bold colour, including red, green, pink and orange, attracts the eye throughout the complex composition. The importance of Long Range Bombardment of Dunkirk was recognised immediately. It was reproduced in colour and singled out for extensive praise in an article about Ernest and Dod Procter in Colour of April 1919, in which its author wrote that, despite the tragedy of its subject matter: ‘I…consider his “Long Range Bombardment of Dunkirk” a really remarkable picture…To begin with, it is extraordinarily attractive at the first glance. The eye taking in the whole picture at once is fascinated by its arrangement of colour patterns: there is something Japanese in its composition and even in its colour. Once attracted the eye begins to inform the mind and the mind browses over every square inch, taking in every anecdote, every pictorial detail, wondering how it was possible to combine so much pure art with so much pure story – and every artist must be delighted with the ingenious manner in which he has contrived to make the many-figured whole hang together as one thing. He comes near to Peter Brueghel in his incidents, but Peter Brueghel could not have reached him in composition. This Bombardment I say again is a remarkable picture.’ (“TIS”, 'About Dod & Ernest Procter', Colour, April 1919, vol. 10, no.3, p. 51 (illustrated) & p.52). Procter was to develop the narrative richness, orchestration of complex figure groups and skilful use of colour seen in this work in further major paintings created after his return to Cornwall, including On the Beach at Newlyn, 1919 and Cornish Beach Scene, c.1922, both in private collections. His work is held in numerous public collections.Provenance:Private Collection, Scotland.Believed to have been purchased in 1948, and by descent in the same family to the current owner.
Lot 77
§ Sir Jacob Epstein K.B.E. (British 1880-1959) First Portait of Kitty (with Curls), conceived 1944 Bronze with brown patina(37cm high (14.5in high) (excluding base))Provenance: The Estate of Dr Renate Davis; Private Collection, UK.Footnote: Literature: Silber, Evelyn, The Sculpture of Epstein, Phaidon, Oxford, 1986, p.195, cat. no. 356 (plaster cast illustrated). Once established in his career, Jacob Epstein was frequently commissioned to create portrait busts. Subsequently, they represent a significant proportion of his output. According to biographer June Rose he would first meticulously study his subject from all angles, “noting the shape of the skull, the relation of the features to each other and to the whole, and the dissimilarity between the two sides of the face.” He had a tremendous aptitude for conveying an accurate mental as well as physiological likeness. Since his more experimental beginnings, Epstein had been regarded as a member of the avant-garde and, as such, opposed to the strictures placed upon art practise by the traditional institutions. This cemented his popularity among more liberal patrons. One such client was Ellen Jansen, a poet and member of a bohemian American set, who commissioned the bust of herself in 1931. She married the theatrical producer Maurice Browne, a founder of the Chicago branch of the Little Theatre. This constituted a movement which, in reaction to the increasing popularity of cinema, aimed to produce a more intimate “reform-minded” theatrical experience. Epstein counters her sharp ‘Louise Brooks’ bob with a serene smile. This remains one of the few busts he created where his sitter displays anything other than a rather enigmatic, reflective expression. Epstein also depicted his family on several occasions. This bust of his daughter Kitty (with curls) was conceived in 1944 and was the first of three he created in her likeness. She was the daughter of his long-term mistress and latterly second wife Kathleen Garman who, famously, was shot in the shoulder with a pearl-handled pistol by his first wife Margaret. Kitty herself went on to become the artist Lucien Freud’s first wife, and was the muse behind several of his seminal early works such as ‘Girl with Kitten’ and ‘Girl with a White Dog’.
Lot 81
§ Winifred Nicholson (British 1893-1981) Pillar in Greek Landscape / Greek Landscape with Terraces pastel on grey paper and pastel on cream paper, both unframed(30cm x 45.5cm (11.5in x 17.8in) and 35.2cm x 50.6cm (13.8in x 20in))Provenance: Acquired from the artist by Jake Nicholson and thence by descent to the present owner.Footnote: Winifred Nicholson and Greece Winifred Nicholson and her daughter Kate visited Greece for the first time in 1960. They returned for extensive painting trips every year until 1967. Winifred wrote to Jake from Delphi in 1961 explaining something of the country’s attraction for her: ‘The sunshine is very wonderful and the colour of everything is marvellous…The sea is emerald near land and then aquamarine, so transparent you can see golden, gleaming transparencies to the very depths, possibly buried sunken treasure…The hills which look brown bare from the bus, when you tread on them are wild flowers, perfume of honey and thyme, like a carpet – every kind and colour of flowers and all wonderful shapes, clear and definite like everything in Greece.’ (letter of 1 May 1961 quoted in Andrew Nairne and Elizabeth Fisher, Winifred Nicholson: Music of Colour, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, 2012, unpaginated). Winifred worked en plein air in Greece, often using bright pastels and crayons to capture the sense of natural beauty and presence of ancient history which she felt there. Works like The Argive Twins Descend (lot XXX) and Agamemnon and Clytemnestra (lot XXX) illustrate her deep interest in Greek mythology, as revealed in a significant yet less well-known strand within her practice.
Lot 91
§ Ben Nicholson O.M. (British 1894-1982) Oh Boy!, circa 1933 mixed media and collage on board(17.7cm x 7.9cm (7in x 3.25in))Provenance: Acquired from the artist by Jake Nicholson and thence by descent to the present owner.Footnote: Oh Boy! is at once an immensely fun work of art made by the artist for his young son, whilst also being an important example of how Ben Nicholson progressed towards the pioneering reliefs for which he is acclaimed. Nicholson is remembered for his sense of humour and playfulness, which formed the basis of his relationship with his oldest son Jake. In 1934 Ben wrote to Winifred ‘Jake and I have such a good and easy contact, I do enjoy him enormously and always have but now very especially – and I know in return I can give him endless things.’ (letter from Ben Nicholson to Winifred Nicholson of 12 April 1934 quoted in Andrew Nicholson, Unknown Colour: Paintings, Letters, Writings by Winifred Nicholson, Faber & Faber, London, 1987, p. 146). In 1988 Jake affectionately recalled his father’s ‘jokey side’ as borne out in illustrated letters featuring dogs called Booboo or Ponto and horses called George or Rufus, who also appeared in paintings. (Jake Nicholson, ‘Ben Nicholson’s Fabrics’, The Nicholsons: A Story of Four People and Their Designs, York City Art Gallery, 1988, exh. cat., p. 38). Jake explained ‘he would build up a serious comment about art or life, then would suddenly pull the rug from under your feet with a pithy joke – perhaps about ginger biscuits.’ (Jake Nicholson, op.cit., p. 39). In Oh Boy! two collaged figures are formed from simple elements as if the result of a game. One is presented within a rectangle, like a goalkeeper to the other, at whose foot a ball is seen moving at speed. The moment of sporting drama is encapsulated in the title, written at the centre right. It is known that Ben and Jake enjoyed playing football together, not least due to a letter recounting a visit they paid to the artists Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp in 1935, in which Ben wrote ‘Jake & I played a good deal of football all over Meudon.’ (letter from Ben Nicholson to Barbara Hepworth of 10 May 1935, quoted in ed. Lee Beard, Ben Nicholson: Writings and Ideas, Lund Humphries, London, 2019, p. 121.) At the same time, Oh Boy! shows how Nicholson was exploring the visual and structural possibilities of working in three dimensions – here collaged, but soon to be carved. The simplification of the human form, the abstracted and graphic representation of facial features and the emphasis on the circle to convey rhythm all speak to his contemporary, more serious concerns. Planes of colour in a palette dominated by black, white and red illustrate opposing team strips as well as emphasising a sense of surface. Nicholson made his first relief in December 1933 whilst in Paris visiting Winifred and their children. He reported this in a letter to Barbara Hepworth a day later, in which he wrote ‘I carved it all day long, it…looks like a primitive game. Jake and Kate came in at various stages and we rolled a marble about it.’ (letter of 12 December 1933 as quoted in Jeremy Lewison, Ben Nicholson, Tate Gallery, London, 1993, p. 216 in entry for cat.no. 49). Thus Jake was present at the moment of this breakthrough in International Modernism, which even so, father, son and daughter were able to turn into a game. We are grateful to Dr Lee Beard for his assistance in cataloguing this work.
Lot 3
Pair of large polychrome decorated bottles, both painted with Dutch Naval scenes, the first with the portrait and script surround Egbert Meeuws Z Kortenaa, Admiral Van Holland, the second with a portrait and the script Pieter Pieterszoom, Admiral Van Holland, these painted above ship scenes, 44cm high, (2)
Lot 154
EDDIE CURTIS (born 1953); 'Nagano Mountain', a stoneware slab vessel partially covered in copper red glaze, impressed EC mark, made circa 2006, height 24cm. (D) One of a group first shown at the London Craft Fair exhibition 'Origin', 2006.Additional InformationChips to a couple of the flanges, otherwise appears good with no further signs of faults, damage or restorations. This lot qualifies for Artist Resale Rights. For further information, please visit http://www.dacs.org.uk or http://artistscollectingsociety.org
Lot 184
HANS COPER (1920-1981); a stoneware angular vessel covered in white slip over textured manganese ground with manganese flared collar and interior, impressed HC mark, made circa 1958, height 18cm. (D) Exhibited: Primavera, London, 1958. This was Coper's first one-man show in London, for which this form was developed. Literature: Tony Birks, 'Hans Coper' (Collins, 1983), p. 99 for further examples of these forms. Provenance: Purchased from Oxford Ceramics Gallery, 2008. Additional InformationOld glaze flake and nibbles to outside of foot ring, otherwise appears good with no further signs of faults, damage or restorations. This lot qualifies for Artist Resale Rights. For further information, please visit http://www.dacs.org.uk or http://artistscollectingsociety.org
Lot 571
SHOJI HAMADA (1894-1978) for Leach Pottery; a stoneware bowl covered in celadon glaze with scalloped decoration inlaid in white slip, rare early personal and pottery marks, made 1923, diameter 20cm. A rare, transitional work showing Hamada honing his skills. Almost certainly from the last firing of the original Leach Pottery kiln before it was dismantled and rebuilt. Exhibited: W B Paterson’s Gallery, 5 Old Bond Street, London, 1923. This was Hamada’s first exhibition and ‘the very first solo show of contemporary studio pottery in a Bond Street gallery … a precedent for subsequent exhibitions of all the major English studio potters of the decade’ – Julian Stair, ‘Genius and Circumstance: early criticism of Hamada’s pottery in England’, in T. Wilcox (ed), ‘Shoji Hamada: Master Potter’ (Lund Humphries, London), p. 17. Provenance: Purchased by the sculptor Agatha Walker from W B Paterson’s Gallery, 1923. Gifted by Walker to the potter Adrian Lewis-Evans, 1970. Comparators: A very similar but unmarked example is in the Crafts Study Centre collection in Farnham. For a similar and contemporary vase acquired from the same 1923 exhibition by Walker, and sold at Bonhams, ‘International Contemporary Ceramics’, 19 September 2006, lot 40, see Phillips in association with Maak, ‘The Art of Fire: Selections from the Dr John P Driscoll Collection’, 10 November 2021, lot 5. Additional InformationProfessional restoration to rim, otherwise appears good with no further signs of faults, damage or restorations.
![Two Harry Potter coin collections, each contained in Gringotts Savings Book wallet. [2]Condition Report: There are 28 coins i](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/58f4c301-aa9b-4218-ac46-ae7500c5f0d6/ca9be9bc-c9ae-4eae-a633-ae7d0114d591/468x382.jpg)
Lot 301
Two Harry Potter coin collections, each contained in Gringotts Savings Book wallet. [2]Condition Report: There are 28 coins in each wallet, the 24 coins in correct slots with 4 duplicates in the Swap Sheet, wallets are in good condition overall, some surface dirt in areas, some creasing to the paper information sheets held between the coin holder pages and the first page of each has been filled in by a previous owner.
![A quantity of vintage Meccano and two hardback Harry Potter first editions. [3]](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/58f4c301-aa9b-4218-ac46-ae7500c5f0d6/018f1e02-378d-4147-8090-ae7f00fd7c8b/468x382.jpg)
Lot 512
Two early 20th Century Art Nouveau Willam Moorcroft vases for James Macintyre & Co, signed in green to the bases, with brown Macintyre mark, the first is of twin handle form and decorated with forget me nots & tulips, the other is of slender form and is decorated with purple pansies. Dimensions, height twin handle vase 20cm, max width 15 cm, slender vase, height 21.5cm, the diameter of base 7.2 cm.Both vases appear to be in good condition but display typical crazing
Lot 60
A Derby Porcelain Coffee Can, circa 1810, painted with Near Matlock, Derbyshire within gilt classical foliage, titled and painted mark in red; A Derby Porcelain Fluted Tea Bowl and Saucer, circa 1780, painted with flower swags, painted marks in blue; and A Similar Large Coffee Can and Saucer, with pink and painted pearl border, painted marks in puce (on one tray). First can with only very minor surface wear. Tea bowl and saucer with some wear to gilding and hairline crack to tea bowl. Large can and saucer with some wear and with chip to rim of can.
Lot 138
Birket Foster's Pictures of English Landscape, India Proof Edition, numbered ltd. edition, Routledge, c.1881, folio, plates, original vellum binding; Smith (J. Sutcliffe), A Music Pilgrimage in Yorkshire, limited first edition, letter from author tipped in, original vellum binding; A collection of 19th century prints, mounted in a leather-bound album; A four volume set of Yorkshire Past and Present (7)
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