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Benefactor Buys Brontë Photograph

BENEFACTOR BUYS BRONTË PHOTOGRAPH
IN EWBANK SALE AND DONATES IT
TO BRONTË PARSONAGE MUSEUM

A mystery benefactor was the buyer of a photograph of the father of the Brontë sisters, not seen since it was sold for a shilling (5 pence) in 1898. After paying three times more than the pre-sale low estimate for the faded sepia print at Surrey fine art auctioneers Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers on June 24, she said she would be donating the portrait to the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Bidding by telephone, the buyer, a lady from the South of England, beat off stiff competition from a London dealer to buy the photograph of the Rev Patrick Brontë for £1,250. It had been expected to fetch £400-600.

She said she had read about the sale in a national newspaper and decided to buy the photograph “on a whim” because “I felt this is something that shouldn't be in private hands”. She added: “I thought it should go back to the Parsonage where it belonged. I must say that I was pushed to my financial limit to get the photograph, but the surprise and delight of the lady to whom I spoke at the museum was well worth it.”

Still in its original oval gilt frame, the photograph was uncovered among papers in an old Ilford film box. With it was a dog-eared copy of an auction catalogue for the dispersal of “The Museum of Brontë Relics” conducted in 1898 by Sotheby Wilkinson and Hodge. It sold for a shilling (5 pence) in that sale.

The portrait photograph had previously been on display along with other Brontë mementoes at the Temperance tearooms in Haworth, Yorkshire, where the family lived. An inscription on the reverse of the portrait, presumably the original museum description, read: "Rev P Brontë; Various relics including an oval photograph framed and glazed, a small china blue and white plate often used by him and a sword stick."

Patrick Brontë (1777-1861) was born in County Down, the eldest of 10 children. His father was an agricultural labourer and the boy was originally apprenticed to a blacksmith and also later to a draper and a weaver. Largely self-taught, he became a teacher and subsequently gained a place to study theology at Cambridge.

He married Maria Branwell at Guiseley Church in 1812. Daughters Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily and Anne followed and he also had a son Patrick Branwell, born in 1817. The father was appointed perpetual curate of Haworth In 1820 and died there in 1861 at the age of 84, having outlived his wife and all six children.

There was more excitement over the sale of the oldest book to have been handled by the saleroom. A rare copy of the first printed edition of the Greek text of the works of Greek historians Herodotus, the “Father of History”; Thucydides and Xenophon, the book was printed by Aldus Minutius (1450-1515) founder of the famous Aldine press at Venice and published in 1502-03. It sold to a London book dealer after a bidding battle both in the room and on four telephones for £36,000, a multiple of its pre-sale estimate. Probably bound together at a later date, it is very rare to find three books from the Aldine Press in one binding.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c484-425 BC) was a Greek historian from Ionia who lived in the 5th century BC (circa 484-circa 425 BC). Thucydides (c460-395BC), dubbed the father of scientific history" was the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War and his classical texts are still studied at military colleges. Xenophon (c.430-354 B.C.) was a soldier of fortune who wrote about life in ancient Greece and the sayings of Socrates.

Minutius set about editing and printing all of the masterpieces of Greek literature and founded the press in 1490. The type used was adapted from the handwriting of one of his assistants. His books can be identified by the dolphin and anchor device which appears on the title pages. When he died in 1515, he had produced 28 of them in 22 years, ushering in the Italian Renaissance. Scholars regard the Herodotus edition as being among the best from the Aldine press.

The two-day sale attracted a great deal of interest among trade and private buyers alike, with almost 800 commission bids being left on the 1,050 lots on offer. Additionally, there were 100 registered Internet bidders who purchased 66 lots bidding live on their computers.

Most valuable painting in the sale proved to be a view of the harbour in Monaco by Walter Gillies, which had been purchased from the Redfern Gallery in London in 1945. It sold for £3,100, another multiple of the pre-sale estimate.

“Glade Scene”, a watercolour by the Canadian artist Emily M. Carr (1871-1945) sold for a mid-estimate £2,700, and a naïve yet charming 18th century English School portrait of a young girl in a red dress, feeding a spaniel sold for £2,800 against an estimate of £1,000-1,500.

Pick of the ceramics section of the sale was an early 20th century Meissen figural group of two ladies and cherubs, which sold for £1,200 against an estimate of £150-250, while a collection of Victorian Wedgwood caneware tableware which had been estimated at £100-200 sold for £1,000.

Most valuable among three pieces of Lalique glass was an opalescent “Plumes” vase decorated with swirling fronds which sold for an above top estimate £820.

Jewellery was well supported by buyers, the most valuable piece proving to be an Edwardian Belle Epoch platinum mounted diamond and emerald set openwork brooch with a pear shaped diamond drop, which sold for an above estimate £1,750. Close behind at £1,650 was an Art Deco style aquamarine and diamond set platinum ring and a pair of pearl and diamond earrings sold on the pre-sale low estimate of £1,000.

Not to be outdone, a gentleman’s Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust wristwatch sold above estimate for £1,200.

In works of art, a well-carved Dieppe ivory panel carved with a scene depicting a medieval trial, estimated at £400-600, sold for £1,600 and an Eastern gilt metal figure of a man on a horse sold for £1,800 against an estimate of £100-200.

Two clocks stood out in particular in that section of the sale, the more valuable proving to be an early 19th century bracket clock by the Prague maker Johan Dellavos, which sold for £2,000. The clock had a brass arch dial engraved with maker's name and moon phase and two subsidiary dials, all fitted in an ebonised wooden case with gilt metal mounts and finials.

Pick of four longcase clocks was a 19th century example, the circular silvered dial, with seconds dial and date aperture, signed Martin, King Street, Westminster, which sold for an above estimate £1,800.

In furniture, a great deal of pre-sale interest resulted in two oak armchairs by Robert “Mouseman” Thompson of Kilburn emerging as the top lot, clearing their pre-sale estimate to sell for £3,000. Thompson was originally a lowly-paid carpenter who once remarked that he was as poor as a church mouse. He subsequently adopted a small carved figure of a mouse as his trademark, which appears on most of his company’s output. The mouse could be seen clearly running up opposing legs of the two chairs indicating that they were clearly a pair rather than two identical examples.

A pair of 19th century mahogany waterfall open bookcases with lion’s head handles sold for £2,200 against a top estimate of £2,000 and a 19th century mahogany extending table with four additional leaves that was estimated at £350-500 sold for £2,000.

A large collection of Matchbox, Corgi and Dinky toys was also dispersed and competition for the many boxed sets ran high. One of the most sought after was one lot comprising a Corgi Toys Major Gift Set No.4; a Bristol Bloodhound guided missile launching ramp; loading trolley and an R.A.F. Land-Rover, which had been estimated at £50-100. They sold for £610, although the ultimate boy’s toy was probably a scratch-built model locomotive in Caledonian black livery which measured almost two feet long. It sold for £550.

Entries are now being accepted for the next fine art and antiques auction which will be held on September 23, and for Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers’ regular monthly Victorian and later auctions on July 8 and 22 and August 5 and 19. For further information, please contact the auctioneer on 01483 223101 or antiques@ewbankauctions.co.uk.