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Lot 44
A very rare boxed Meccano live Steam Engine, comprising of spirit fired vertical boiler with filler safety valve, on/off hand operated lever for steam output, powering a single oscillating cylinder, with opposing unspoked flywheel, raised on Meccano style blue base with original burner and other accessories.
Lot 7005
Theodore Casimir Roussel (French, 1847-1926), The Saw Mill, Putney, London, etching and drypoint on ivory laid paper, signed in pencil on the tab indicating that this impression was printed by the artist, also signed in the plate, 1888-89, 4 5/8 x 3 1/8in. (11.6 x 7.8cm.), unframed. * Provenance: Michael Parkin Fine Art Ltd, Chelsea, London. ** References: (20 1/1) The Prints of Theodore Roussel: A Catalogue Raisonné by Margaret Dunwoody Hausberg 1991. There is another example of this rare etching in the Art Institute of Chicago.
Lot 7016
A rare Island of Guernsey early passport 1833, Issued by Major General John Ross Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey and Alderney - Made out to a Miss Rachel Roberts aged 22 years. Royal Arms and Governor of Guernsey Arms at top, black printing with manuscript annotations and signatures, has franking stamps on reverse stating she was at Granville and Paris, 6 x 13¾in. (15.3 x 35cm.). * Major General John Ross served on the Spanish peninsula with Sir John Moore, the Walcheren Campaign and later in Portugal under the Duke of Wellington. He was Governor of Guernsey from 1828 to 1837.
Lot 7038
Guernsey Law interest - A rare 19th century 'ORDONNANCE DE LA COUR ROYALE' poster dated 1832, Le 6 Septembre 1832, devant Daniel De Lisle Brock, éc. Baillif, présens, Jean La Serre, Jean Hubert, William Collings, H. O. Carré, Frédéric Mansell, P.B. Dobrée et T. W. Gosselin, Ecrs. Jurés. etc etc etc ~~~~etc etc etc, CHARLES LEFEBVRE Député Greffier du Roi.17½ x 13½in. (44.5 x 34.3cm.), together with two prints and a collection of Guernsey related cigarette cards etc.
Lot 9005
A very rare 18th century English or Dutch hand forged brass salamander, the turned handle with acorn finial and the disc browning surface with palmette decoration to the junction, 16 5/8in. (42.5cm.) long. * Salamander - used as a hearth cooking spatula when needed, the salamander was primarily a browning iron holding a dish above the flame for the final touch or heated to red hot in the fire, then held above a roast or a custard to brown the surface.
Lot 9150
The Beatles memorabilia - A rare boxed set of four glasses by Joseph Lang & Company Ltd for NEMS Enterprises, c.1963, each glass features a colour transfer of one of the Beatles - Paul McCartney; Ringo Star; John Lennon and George Harrison, each glass with gold gilt rims and standing 4in. (10.2cm.) high.
Lot 9257
Channel Islands football interest - a rare Guernsey Football Association patch - Belgrave Wanderers Football Club Jackson Team 1932-33 photograph and medals, to include a silver Jackson League medal awarded to R. Morton 1932-33 (front row left on photograph); together with three other medals; and a silver Old English pattern spoon, engraved to terminal 'T.I. 1950 S/H R. Morton Winner', 7in. (18cm.) long, gross weight of spoon and silver medals 2.4 tr.oz. (7)
Lot 126
A early 20th century rare and unusual novelty German all-bisque piano baby doll as a decanter, attributed to Gebruder Heubach, seated, having sculpted blonde hair, painted facial features, upper glancing eyes, closed mouth with rosy cheeked dimpled expression, wearing smock with baby blue trim and sculpted ruffles, the removable head lifting to reveal decanter neck with cork stopper, 8¼in. (21cm.) high.
Lot 137
A rare copy of Album of Eight Songs: Music by Prince Victor Duleep Singh, consisting of his own compositions Chappell & Co. Ltd., London, n.d. [but probably before 1898]consisting of settings of poems and lyrics by Swinburne, de Musset, Leconte de Lisle and Sully Prudhomme, to music by the Prince, 40 pages, 360 x 265 mm.; together with a copy of An Account of Blo' Norton Hall, communicated by Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, MVO, FSA, VP, Norfolk & Norwich Archaeological Society, 1914, signed by the Prince and dedicated by him to Herbert Hudson, March 1914, 50 pages, various plates and diagrams, half-marbled covers 220 x 140 mm.(2)Footnotes:Prince Victor (1866-1918) was the eldest son of Maharajah Duleep Singh, and after an abortive career in the British Army, married Lady Anne Coventry in 1898. This collection of songs, written doubtless for his own amusement (but, notably, dedicated to various ladies), shows him as a typical late Victorian gentleman, with some of the sentimentality of the time, but also steeped in English and French literature.The titles of the songs are: 'Ici Bas' (Here Below); 'For a Day and a Night'; 'Adieu Suzon' (Good-bye Suzon); 'Tre Filia d'Oro'; 'A Song of Maytime'; 'In the Lower Lands of Day'; 'When the Swallows Homeland Fly'; 'If Love Were What the Rose Is'.In 1909, after some years spent house-hunting, Prince Frederick (1868-1926), a younger son of Duleep Singh, bought the 16th Century moated house, Blo' Norton Hall, near Thetford in Norfolk. He was a keen antiquarian, having read History at Cambridge, and he was particularly interested in the Stuarts and Charles I. He was a member of numerous historical societies, but was most associated with the Norfolk & Norwich Archaeological Society, joining in 1897 and becoming its President in 1924.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Lot 28
A rare Safavid oil painting of an African soldier Persia, Isfahan, circa 1680-90oil on canvas, affixed with a fragmentary old label on the stretcher reading Portrait of an Indian Officer 122 x 79.5 cm. Footnotes:ProvenancePrivate English aristocratic collection, London. Acquired by the vendor's mother in Jaipur during a visit to the court of Maharajah Man Singh II in the mid 1960s.Bonhams have the privilege of presenting an enigmatic and unique painting depicting a flamboyant African soldier in Safavid Persia. Immensely rare, the present work is quite likely to be one of the first ever depictions of an African subject in Persian oil painting, and one of the earliest artistic records of the black African community whose descendants continue to reside in the Gulf region.Isfahan was referred to as 'half the world' (nisf-i jahan) by the 16th Century. Shah 'Abbas (reg. 1588-1629) had moved his capital from Qazwin, Safavid political power had grown, there was a flowering of culture in Persia, and Isfahan, in particular, became a nexus of trade and cultural exchange. Along with the Ottoman Sultan and the 'Grand Mughal', Safavid Persia and Shah 'Abbas ('The Sophy' or 'The Great Sophy', an expression probably deriving from a mishearing of 'Safavi'), were touchstones of grandeur and exoticism in Western consciousness at the time.One thinks of the striking image, spread across a double page in a folio volume, of the Maidan-i Naqsh-i Jahan in Isfahan, in Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Orientales (Amsterdam 1718) – where the broken lines of the tents of the bazaar, where all sorts of business was being transacted amongst several nationalities, contrast with the more austere lines of the Safavid architecture surrounding them. As Cornelius de Bruyn's accompanying account put it: 'The greater part of this plaza is full of tents, where all kinds of things are sold [...] One continually sees a prodigious crowd of people and among other things a large number of people of quality who come and go to the court' (see S. R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas: the Remaking of Iran (London 2009), pp. 260-261, no. 127, illustrated). And one also thinks of the group of twenty-one paintings discussed by Eleanor Sims in her essay below – the depictions of people of various ethnicities, genders, in different forms of dress, alongside types of decorative objects - and so to our painting of a young African man.While the painting is – as Eleanor Sims argues below – a type, and one playing on variations in Safavid fashion, it must surely refer ultimately to a real-life soldier, a musketeer or tofangchi, a division of the Persian army primarily composed of foreign mercenaries. A figure (albeit one with white skin) which appears in the Kaempfner Album (produced in Isfahan in 1684-85) in the British Museum is highly reminiscent of our subject, in pose, weaponry and dress: the hat with its plume, the two straps which pass over his shoulders (to a backpack?), the accoutrements around his waist, the red-orange breeches, and the white banded gaiters. The British Museum catalogue describes him as a royal bodyguard. Leaving aside western Europeans, most foreigners in Safavid Persia, whether free or slaves, were closer to home – they were from the Caucasus, Georgia, Circassia, or notably, Armenian, in the flourishing town of New Julfa. But an African must have been in a minority, by geographical accident (and less common than in Ottoman Turkey, where black Africans, often eunuchs, were more commonly in positions of power at court). Our figure demonstrates his confidence in his rank and profession, his dress and (to some degree, at least) his wealth, create a well-to-do image, almost dandyish.Eleanor Sims traces his relation in this respect to the 'Tehran Suite' of paintings. In addition, both figures in an Afsharid oil painting, done around fifty years later, wear long coats with the same horizontal frogging on the chest (albeit with much more embroidered decoration on the coats), and the male figure wears the same vertically-striped undershirt - and these figures are of a notably higher class (the catalogue description speculated whether the male might be a son of Nadir Shah). See Sotheby's, Fine Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 22nd & 23rd May 1986, lot 175 (dated to circa 1735-45).Whether he was a slave, who had come to Persia via the Arab trade from East Africa and the Indian Ocean into the Gulf (whose descendants to this day form an Afro-Iranian community in the south of the country); whether he had been freed as a condition of service in the Persian army; whether he was a free man who had ended up in the melting-pot of 17th Century Isfahan; or whether he is strictly a 'type', perhaps made African to cater to an existing European interest in blackamoors, and other signifiers of 'the exotic' (especially if he had a female companion painting, as Sims suggests) - we will doubtless never know. What does seem to be clear is that this painting is a rare, perhaps unique portrayal of an African in the Safavid army, and of an African in Persia.An African Youthby Eleanor SimsCould a picture offer any greater degree of 'exotic' than does this oil-painted figure of a young African wearing imaginatively interpreted 17th-century Safavid Persian clothing?He is one among a presently recorded number (21) of large rectangular pictures, painted in oil on canvas. All are single figures; all are dressed in fine 17th-Century Safavid clothing; all comfortably fill their picture-space. Their dress, especially that of the women, usually also distinguishes their ethnicity and religious affiliation: Muslim Persian, Armenian and Georgian Christian. Several men among the 21 may instead be Europeans in Safavid garb, but they are the exceptions within the genre. And with a different exception, none is either signed or dated; all but three are anonymous.Such paintings were almost surely commissioned by Europeans in the cosmopolitan melange of peoples visiting Safavid Isfahan in that century (Eleanor Sims, 'Five Seventeenth-Century Persian Oil Paintings', Persian and Mughal Art, ed. Michael Goedhuis, London 1976, pp. 223-32). Struck by the 'exotic' inhabitants they saw, many wanted images to take with them, when they returned to their own countries. English travellers seem to have been especially desirous of owning these 'exotic' personages, especially when they could be executed on a scale not unlike the oil-painted portraits already hanging on their walls. Indeed, many can be connected with houses or families: in Wiltshire (see Mary Arnold-Forster, Basset Down: An Old Country House, London 1949, p. 147; Eleanor Sims, 'The 'Exotic' Image: Oil-Painting in Iran in the Later 17th and the Early 18th Centuries', in The Phenomenon of 'Foreign' in Oriental Art, ed. Annette Hagedorn, Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 135–40 passim; eadem, 'Six Seventeenth-century Oil Paintings from Safavid Persia', in God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture, New Haven & London 2013, pp. 343, 346-47), and in Northamptonshire, (eadem, 'Five Seventeenth-Century Persian Oil Paintings', pp. 241-48). Three are known to have been in English royal possession since the middle of the 17th century (1651; noted on the Royal Collection Trust Website; two published in Epic Iran: 5000 Years of Culture, J. Curtis, I. Sarikhani-Sandmann, and T. Stanley, London 2020, cat. 183-84). But that this youth is black makes him an especially exotic figure, even for 17th-century Isfahan.He stands in an open landscape whose horizon is at mid-figure height. The fore- and middle-ground show rows of grassy... This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: RR This lot is subject to import restrictions when shipped to the United States.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Lot 100
A panelled oak chest or coffer, probably first half 17th century, the front incorporating twin Romayne panels, 60cm high, 115cm wide, 52cm deepProvenance: Private Collection, The Manor House, Stanford in the Vale, OxfordshireFor a closely related example of chest incorporating romayne panels see, Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture The British Tradition, Antique Collectors Club, 1979, page 426, figure 4:27. Condition Report: Marks, scratches and abrasions commensurate with age and use, Old splits and chips, some old repairs, some old losses. There is an old ring mark/ water mark to the central panel of the lid. To the 'Romayne' profile portraits there are remnants of what appear to be the original paint. An interesting and relatively rare feature. Each exterior side panel also with a central painted decorative motif that would appear possibly to be original. There is a very good and even depth of patina and colour throughout. The hinges are replacements but are hand forged and appear 18th or early 19th century. There are two later pieces of timber screwed to the underside of the lid to secure old splits/ breaks. One rear foot with spliced repair. The interior with later pinned lining. Please refer to the images for visual reference to condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
Lot 148
A rare pair of Queen Anne burr oak and oak side tables, circa 1705, each approximately 70cm high, 88cm wide, 60.5cm deep Provenance: Collection of a Titled Gentleman, LondonThe interior of one drawer with paper label for 'The Post Boy Antique Galleries, Filmwell, Nr. Hawkenhurst, Kent' listing the provenance as 'From Ross Castle, Cumberland. Given by the Bishop of Carlisle in 1735 to the Pocklington-Stenhouse Family, Netherall, Mary Port, Cumberland, noted in the family records'. For two related examples of table of the period see, Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture, The British Tradition, Antique Collectors Club, 1979, page 314 (figures 3:245 and 3:246). Please note, the turning of the legs on these tables vary noticeably from one another. It is feasible that they were made by different hands in the same workshop. Condition Report: Both tables with marks, knocks, scratches and abrasions commensurate with age and use. Various old chips and splits. As expected with the age of the tables and the materials used, both tops have slight undulation. Some later nails securing tops.Filler applied to surface in places. The interior of the carcasses with later drawer runners and central stretcher beneath top. Drawer fronts appear original, the rest of the construction of the drawers are later (previous drawers were on side runners). Handles are replacements but in period taste. Feet appear original and have some fragmentary losses to feet. Slight variation between dimensions of both tables. The thickness of the turning of the legs varies between the two tables to a noticeable degree. Some later screws disguised by filler to rear friezes. Table One-Crack to one rear edge of the top with dark wax used to fill gap. Wax has also been applied to two old indentations to the rear edge. Small rectangular veneer repair to rear right corner of top. Shaped rear frieze lacks nailed on moulding to edge. Table Two- Cracks to the centre of the front edge and to one front corner. Wax applied to three old indentations to the rear edge. Small square veneer repair made to one side of the top. Old repaired crack through top of one front leg. Please refer to additional images for visual reference to condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
Lot 212
A pair of yew and mahogany Gothic Windsor armchairs, mid-18th century, attributed to Thames Valley, one stamped 'T.B' to the underside, each approximately 97cm high, 62cm wide, 52cm deep Provenance: Previously part of the Private Collection of a Cambridge AcademicA closely related set of three chairs were sold Christie's New York, 10th May 2018, Lot 834 (£47,500).For a near identical example of chair see, Bernard D. Cotton, The English Regional Chair, Antique Collectors Club, 1990, page 47, Figure TV20. In Cotton's book he notes that 'no examples [of Gothic Windsor chairs] have been recorded made in other than prized yew, with elm seats'. The mahogany seats of these chairs make them rare examples of their kind. A pair of chairs of closely related form is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2016.234 and 2016.250). Condition Report: Marks, knocks, scratches and abrasions commensurate with age and use. Old splits and chips. Both chairs structurally solid. One pierced spandrels to the side of each chair is possibly associated. Some old repaired splits to backs. Filler applied to surface in places. Please refer to additional images for visual reference to condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
Lot 214
A rare English shellwork armorial picture, possibly Devon, late 18th/early 19th century, the central shield surmounted with a helmet and wolf's mask and flanked by flowering branches, elements tinted, presented in a glazed and ebonised frame and on silk ground, 36 x 31cm overallCondition Report: The armorial bears the usual minor marks knocks and wear overall consistent with age.There are minor losses and chips in places, including to the flower petals and parts of the armorial cartouche and its border. Losses also include parts of the diagonal lines on the right side of the armorial, as visible in images.The purple and orange lacquer-like colourings are vibrant, though the lighter tinctures may be a little more faded. There is adhesive present particularly to clusters of shells, though this is perhaps the result of manufacturing techniques.There is a small handful of loose shells at the bottom of the frame, which must have come away from parts of the foliage.The fabric ground and frame are a little bit marked and scuffed.Please see additional lot photographs for visual reference to condition.Condition Report Disclaimer
Lot 853
An American 'Tabard Inn Library' ebonised oak revolving bookcase,c.1902, of architectural form with a gabled roof above various compartments, shelves, carved heraldic shields and book titles, the frieze carved 'The Tabard Inn, The Best Reading Rooms in the United States are the Homes of the American People',68.5cm wide68.5cm deep193cm highThe Tabard Inn project – named after the Southwark pub made famous by Geoffrey Chaucer in the first few lines of the Canterbury Tales - was the brainchild of entrepreneur and promoter Seymour Eaton. His idea was for a membership library located in drugstores across the United States. The books, available to members at five cents each, were housed in these 1.93m high ebonised oak bookcases with the carved inscription 'The Best Reading Rooms In the United States Are the Homes of the American People'. The slogan 'With all the Red Tape on the Box' references the sturdy black cases sealed with red tape that housed the books.In an advert from 1902, Eaton claimed that 10,000 bookcases would be made with their contents (each held 120 books) changed weekly from a central supplier. He even managed to sell his idea to the UK whereby in 1904 the newsagent WH Smith had taken on the UK franchise using similar bookcases that carry the legend inscribed with the Thomas Carlyle quotation 'The True University of These Days is a Collection of Books'.However, relatively few bookcases of either the US or the UK type are known. In March 1905, Eaton was declared bankrupt and his enterprise came to an abrupt end. Sworders expect this rare survivor to bring £2000-3000.Condition report: Minor rubbing and wear. Will easily sit in a new home with no restoration necessary.
Lot 200
A VERY RARE COLT'S PATENT ADVERTISING POSTER, the coloured paper lithograph depicting a percussion Pocket revolver, the script SOLD HERE, COLT'S PATENT, This Pistol of WORLD WIDE CELEBRITY is perfectly made and warranted. Lower left features the printer's details Lith. of Nagel & Weingartner, 74 Fulton St. New York. Framed and glazed 51cm x 32.5cm. The rear frame mounting marked COLT ADVERT, c: 1854? (from Commander Ward, Bapty & Co., 1944)
Lot 201
A FINE AND RARE CASED PAIR OF PRESENTATION QUALITY SILVER PLATED MOUNTED 80-BORE COOPER'S PATENT HAMMERLESS PEPPERBOX REVOLVERS BY WILLIAMS & POWELL OF LIVERPOOL, 3.5inch six barrel fluted cylinders engraved with scrolling foliage at the muzzles, border and finely engraved rounded actions decorated with a serpent to the right side and Cooper's patent details to the left, blued ring triggers, blued sliding safeties, border and scroll engraved backstraps engraved with the owner's initials, the stepped butts with traps engraved with scrolling foliage and the maker's details THOS. WILLIAMS LIVERPOOL, contained in their blue baize lined mahogany case, the lid with maker's trade label, complete with commensurate accessories comprising nipple key, turnscrews, starting and cleaning rod, nipple pot, cap pot, white metal three-way flask by Dixon, white metal cap dispenser by Allport, bullet and ball mould with blued sprue cutter, and two further Eley cap tins, the outside of the lid with brass escutcheon engraved Presented to Mr Light by Mr Moss.
Lot 212
A RARE .650 CALIBRE PATTERN 1843 JUNIOR CADET PERCUSSION CARBINE, 26.5inch sighted barrel with various Ordnance stamps at the breech, border engraved lock stamped with a crown over VR over TOWER and dated 1847, full stocked with regulation brass mounts, trigger guard tang stamped with the rack number 15, steel ramrod. See page 40 of British Military Longarms by D W Bailey and page 279 of British Military Firearms by Blackmore.
Lot 303
A VERY RARE FRAMED GEORGE III GUIDON TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT VOLUNTEER CAVALRY, the white silk body finely painted to one side with a crowned GRIII cypher within a blue garter containing the regimental title, the whole within a spray of thistles and roses, the opposing side painted with a crowned shield form crest, tower and VECTIS, within a spray of oak leaves and acorns, surmounted with a blue scroll bearing the regimental title in gold and black, 91.5 x 56cm. Professionally conserved and framed between two sheets of glass. Losses and wear.
Lot 304
A VERY RARE GEORGIAN GUIDON TO THE DENBIGHSHIRE YEOMANRY CAVALRY, the blue silk body painted with opposing red dragons and regimental titles DENBIGHSHIRE YC, all within laurel wreaths, the Prince of Wales feathers centred within a laurel and oak leaf wreath, the opposing side painted to match, silver bullion trim, 91 x 53cm. Professionally conserved and framed between two sheets of glass. Losses and wear.
Lot 305
A FINE AND RARE LATE 18TH CENTURY BASKET HILTED BACKSWORD OF THE GARDE ECOSSAISE, 67cm blade formed as a backsword then transitioning to a broadsword, profusely etched with scrolling foliage and talismanic symbols, further etched with the maker's details COULLIER RUE ST. HONORE NO.574 A PARIS, characteristic sheet steel basket hilt pierced about with saltire, geometric designs and narrow slots, spirally fluted pommel, wire bound grip, leather backed red velvet liner. This sword forms part of a group of very similar swords, all sharing similar hilts and pommels but with a variety of blade lengths and designs and all associated with the Garde Ecossaise - designed for the close protection of the King of France and composed exclusively of Scottish soldiers.
Lot 337
A VERY RARE EAST INDIA COMPANY 1803 PATTERN INFANTRY OFFICER'S SWORD, 76cm curved double fullered blade decorated with scrolling foliage, floral sprays, stands of arms, crowned Royal arms and crowned GR cypher, regulation copper gilt hilt incorporating the rampant lion emblem of the EIC within a laurel wreath, lion's head pommel, wire bound ribbed ivory grip, contained in its copper gilt mounted leather scabbard complete with knot.
Lot 343
A VERY RARE 1796 PATTERN INFANTRY OFFICER'S SWORD TO THE 7TH REGIMENT OF FOOT (ROYAL FUSILIERS), 81cm, broad flattened diamond section blade by Eginton, etched with scrolling foliage, a stand of arms, the figure of Britannia, crowned Royal Arms, crowned GR cyphers and crowned regimental device surmounted by 7th, regulation copper gilt hilt, the inside of the shell guard applied with a crowned regimental device to either side, D-shaped knuckle bow, urn pommel, wire bound grip, contained in its copper gilt mounted leather scabbard, the upper mount with maker's panel. Wear to lower scabbard leather.
Lot 371
A RARE BRASS HILTED 1821 PATTERN LIGHT CAVALRY TROOPER'S SWORD TO THE WESTMORLAND YEOMANRY CAVALRY, 82cm curved fullered blade by REEVES, regulation three-bar brass hilt engraved W.Y.C. over 4, ribbed leather covered grip, contained in its brass scabbard engraved W.Y.C. over 1 beneath the throat.
Lot 77
A RARE 16TH CENTURY OTTOMAN OR TURKISH BUCKLER OR SHIELD FROM THE ST IRENE ARSENAL, the 38cm convex spiralling wicker body with reddish brown leather facing, the large central metal boss with fluted decoration bearing the Arsenal stamp of St Irene, the whole secured with a border of geometric stitches, the brown leather backing with leather grip. The St Irene Arsenal, formally the Haiga Eirene Church is located in Istanbul (Constantinople). The central boss is reflective of the central panel of the traditional Krug armour. Some splitting to leather backing otherwise very good.
Lot 143
WHITTINGTON PRESS: WATERSON, Merlin; “The Baptistry of the Church of St. Simeon The Stylite”, 2013, number 68/80 on Naturalis paper & bound in Cave Paper’s Layered Indigo Night, for the Special Copies of Matrix 31; & ten soft-bound booklets including: MacKARELL, Peter; “Flights of Fancy”, 1976; an address by Rosemary Hoggett at the funeral service of Alan Hancox M. B. E., 1992; “Nine Artists & A Press”, exhibition of artists working at the Whittington Press, 1989; “30 Books Printed at the Whittington Press 1972-1992”; “Fifty Books… 1972-93” for an exhibition at The Nordiska Museet, Stockholm 1994; Michael Taylor Rare Books Catalogue 25; two copies of “Exhibition of Books…..1971-81 at the King Street Galleries, 17, King Street, St. James’s”; “Gutenberg & Whittington”, 2007; & “Matrix -Some Brief Guidelines For Contributors & Compositors”, 1987 (300 copies).
Lot 476
A rare Florence sewing machine, No. 64810,with Patent dates 1850 an 1855-63, by the Florence Sewing Machine Co, with detachable circular stitch plate, boat shuttle and bobbin (shuttle cover missing), japanned finish with gilt decoration (faded in places), walnut bow-fronted cover, on treadle base with faded gilt decoration to legs, serpentine edged walnut table with lid to (missing) accessories compartment, flywheel-driven bobbin winder and two-foot treadle with leather toe straps. (flat drive belt and toe straps present but decayed; general condition good, steel parts lightly rusted, mechanism free but stiff. No accessories apart from an oil can base.)
Lot 157
China, a rare set of 8 bronze charms or amulets, late Qing dynasty, 34mm-36mm, 13.5g to 17.5g, ranging from good F to VF, each cast with four characters to obverse and two reverse, includes 'Yu Shu Zhi Lan' (a talented young man of noble character), Hartill, Cast Chinese Amulets, 4.1675, CCH-1123 vol.2, 17.5g, 'San Duo Jiu Ru', rev. Ji De, Hartill, Cast Chinese Amulets 4.203, CCH-1130, vol.2, 'Fu Rong Zi Gui', similar to Hartill, Cast Chinese Amulets, 4.1274, rev. differentCONDITION: Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, coins and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.
Lot 168
China, a rare archaic bronze openwork Dharmachakra (wheel) charm, probably Han-Tang dynasty, 64mm, small split to rim, malachite encrustation, well defined, old collection label '99'CONDITION: Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, coins and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.
Lot 17
A rare late 16th century German oval ivory diptych-dial, the upper inner leaf with tangent circles and inscribed 1593, the lower leaf (lacking its glass cover and string gnomon) housing a dry-card paper compass, beneath hour lines marked with Roman numerals, the upper outer leaf with a brass nocturnal, a small external catch keeps the lid open when in use, probably Nuremberg, width 39mm depth 48mm length 48mmCONDITION: Ivory stained and discoloured particularly in two patches to the underside and dirty to the top, metal mounts evenly oxidised, compass dial rubbed and looks like it was once glazed but this is now lacking.
Lot 235
A rare Chinese bamboo-veneer (tiehuang) shaped square box and cover, Qianlong period (1736-95), the cover with re-entrant corners, carved in relief with 'chilong' amid scrolling tendrils inlaid with turquoise flower heads, within key work scrolling tendril borders, the sides with flowering branches, with golden to chestnut brown patina, silk brocade lining, caramel to chestnut brown patina, 20cm square, faults.Provenance - Dr J W H Grice (1891-1976) collection, labelled no.8. Cf. a large turquoise-inlaid bamboo-veneer box and cover, Qianlong period (1736-1795) sold for 860,000 HKD by Sotheby's, Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 8 April 2011, Lot 3329, similarly set with turquoise flower heads.CONDITION: The cover and base are slightly warped so no longer fit properly. A number of the inlaid turquoise flowers are missing. The cover is grubby with small losses, fine cracks and lifting to the veneer. The base has lost most of the inner flange and has fine cracks and lifting to the veneer.ProvenanceDr John William Hawksley Grice (1891-1976) is regarded as a very important collector of carving in Britain; at the time he was collecting, he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring Qing dynasty carvings. He wrote about 'Chinese Bamboo Carving' in Country Life in 1954, one of the first articles in English on the subject, and at the time he was collecting he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring late carving. Dr Grice and his wife Kathleen moved to China in 1922 and he worked as a doctor in Tianjin for 30 years. He built his ivory and bamboo collection in China in the decades he spent there before leaving in 1952. He gave a sizeable proportion of his carved bamboo collection to London's Victoria and Albert Museum and donated other ivories and bamboo to the British Museum.
Lot 238
A fine and rare Chinese bamboo-root 'boys and fish bowl' brush washer, 18th/19th century, carved in the round from a bamboo-root node with two boys crouching at a fish bowl one holding a gourd and the other grasping two fish from the water, the sides of the bowl carved in high relief with rockwork and flowering shrubs, with caramel brown patina, 8.5cm wide, 5.2 cm high, tiny losses.Provenance - Dr J W H Grice (1891-1976) collection.CONDITION: Small losses to the tail of the fish in one boy's right hand, the flowers at the side of the fish bowl. The eyes are picked in black paint? and this is missing to one eye.ProvenanceDr John William Hawksley Grice (1891-1976) is regarded as a very important collector of carving in Britain; at the time he was collecting, he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring Qing dynasty carvings. He wrote about 'Chinese Bamboo Carving' in Country Life in 1954, one of the first articles in English on the subject, and at the time he was collecting he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring late carving. Dr Grice and his wife Kathleen moved to China in 1922 and he worked as a doctor in Tianjin for 30 years. He built his ivory and bamboo collection in China in the decades he spent there before leaving in 1952. He gave a sizeable proportion of his carved bamboo collection to London's Victoria and Albert Museum and donated other ivories and bamboo to the British Museum.
Lot 247
A rare Chinese archaistic bamboo model of a tripod ritual vessel, He, 18th century, the oval section body carved in low relief with a band of taotie masks, applied with a zoomorphic spout, on three cabriole feet, suspended from a chain and right-angled 'chime', 30cm high to top of chime, 22cm longProvenance - Dr J W H Grice (1891-1976) collection no.58 to label
Lot 260
Rare Chinese book 'Ping pi bai jin fang', concerning National defence and military strategy, published 52nd year Qianlong's reign 1787, 14 parts bound in 12 volumes, Provenance - A. T. Arber-CookeCONDITION: All volumes with later brown outer wrappers and some occasional tears or small losses and pen inscriptions. All pages have a layer of paper between each leaf of script.Volume 1 staining to some pages (mostly near the front and back), losses to title page now remounted, tear to first pageVolume 2 slight worm damage to first page and occasional small holes to pages, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 3 slight worm damage to first page and occasional small holes to pages, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 4 slight worm damage to last page and occasional small holes to pages, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 5/6 Worm damaged and repaired pages throughout, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 7/8 slight worm damage to spine, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 9/10 slight worm damage to spine and edges, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 11. slight worm damage to spine and wrappers, some pages with staining to bottom, some pages dog-earedVolume 12 slight worm damage to spine and wrappers, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 13 slight worm damage to spine and wrappers, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 14 part 1, some pages with staining to bottomVolume 14 part 2 slight worm damage to spine and end wrapper lacking, some pages with staining to bottom and dog-eared corners Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.
Lot 261
Rare Chinese book, Illustrations of Beautiful Places Compiled, 'Tu Kai Sheng Ji', edited by Liu Houji, published first Winter of Guangxu 1875-76, 8 volumes in a blue cloth folding case Provenance - A. T. Arber-CookeCONDITION: The folding case blue cloth is grubby and slack and the cardboard and paper lining of the case have significant worm damage. Fortunately only Volumes 1 and 8 have minor worm damage to the edges, and all volumes with some light water staining near the upper of each page.Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.
Lot 262
Rare Chinese book, Imperial Edition of the Illustrated Book of Documents 'Qinding shujing tushuo', 31st year of Guangxu 1905, edited by Sun Jianai, 16 volumes in two rust coloured cloth folding cases Provenance - A. T. Arber-CookeCONDITION: Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.
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