NEWS

JADE FIGURE SET TO BRING LUCKY OWNER A CASH WINDFALL

Ewbank sale adds a touch of the Orient and splashes of colour to March chill

Confucius described jade as "exquisite and mysterious ... its flaws not concealing its beauty nor its beauty concealing its flaws". The ancient thinker and philosopher had no need of wealth and possessions, but China's most precious of stones, jade is considered to be more precious even than either silver or gold. It is said to ward off evil spirits, render poisoned wine safe to drink and bring good luck.

The owner of a jade carving coming up for sale at Surrey fine art auctioneers Ewbank on Thursday March 13 stands to benefit from a little good luck himself: the 18th century carving of a man holding a cup in his out-stretched right hand, cost £198 in 1967. Ewbank valuers reckon he’ll sell for £5,000-8,000.

Said auctioneer Chris Ewbank: “The figure dates from about 1740 and was purchased from a specialist London dealer. Finely carved and standing on a wooden plinth, the grey green coloured figure would make a splendid addition to a collection. With wealthy Chinese collectors buying back their country’s heritage, we anticipate a great deal of interest in him.”

Equally collectable is a group of 30 pieces of fine and decorative 20th century cloisonné – the name given to the enamelling process which originated in China in the 1200s. Taken from the French verb cloisonner – to partition – the process takes many hours of skilled work. Fine wire is attached to metal objects to be decorated making patterns from tiny partitions – or cloisons – which are filled with coloured pastes of ground glass. The object is then fired to high temperatures in a kiln and subsequently polished to achieve brilliant and beautiful colours.

The resulting works of art were enough to charm one Haslemere lady who inherited ed the current collection and had the 30 pieces dotted throughout her home. However, a move to a smaller property has meant they must be sold. Pick of the collection is an early 20th century pair of Dogs of Fo on rectangular bases, each decorated profusely with lotus flowers and leaf scrolls on a blue ground. They are estimated at £800-1,200, while a second pair which had been wrapped up and forgotten but found in her garage in the nick of time for the sale are estimated art £500-800.

An early 20th century round box and cover decorated inside and out with repeated characters from the Chou dynasty, leaf scrolls, and with a jade dragon disk inset in to the cover is estimated at £800-1,000. A massive dish measuring more than two feet across is decorated with Shou symbols and peach sprays on a yellow ground with bats amidst clouds on the reverse and Qianlong mark to the base is estimated at £600-1,000, as is a pair of vases decorated with lotus flower, scroll and applied peony scrolls and a pair of pear shaped vases decorated with continuous lotus scroll on a blue ground with a scaly dragon in copper applied around the neck. Estimates for lesser pieces start at £100.

It is interesting to note how Oriental and Asian art influenced the designers of decorative arts in the West, none more so than William de Morgan (1839-1917), an Arts and Crafts designer and friend of William Morris who took such motifs to design stained glass, ceramic tiles and painted furniture. Ewbank’s sale includes a panel of 16 floor tiles decorated with scrolling stylised flowers and leaves in the unmistakable so-called Iznik manner of Ottoman potters. The tiles, which come from de Morgan’s Sands End Road pottery, are estimated at £400-600.

Another craftsman with an unmistakable trademark was Robert “Mouseman” Thompson (1876-1955) whose furniture-making business in Kilburn in the North Yorkshire Moors continues to flourish today. Known worldwide for fine quality oak pieces, all with their distinctive adzed surface and often with the small carved mouse trademark, Thompson is represented in the sale by 20 chairs which once served in the dining room of Reeds School in Cobham.

Part of a larger special order placed by the school in the mid 1930s, they were used by the children until 2007 and are being disposed of now as being surplus to requirements. The chair backs have unusual shaped top rails and double shaped splats and padded cowhide seats. They will be sold in three sets – two eights and a four – each set containing a chair with the mouse trademark carved in to the back leg.

“The chairs have been well used in the last 70 years and show the inevitable signs of wear and tear but it is a tribute to Thompson that they have survived such hard use so well,” said Chris Ewbank. Estimates range from £400-600 for yhe set of four and £800-1,000 for sets of eight.

The paintings section of the sale is dominated by a single-owner collection of contemporary works formed by Derek Sorrell who concentrated on the work of a handful of contemporary artists, notably the German abstract painter Peter Schmidt (1931-1980) and Irish born Patrick Dolan (1926-1980).

Peter Schmidt was born in Berlin and studied art at Goldsmith's College London and at the Slade School of Fine Art. He had a number of individual shows in the 1960s and 70s including some at the Lisson Gallery, London in 1968 and a number of group shows in the 1950s and 60s. Examples of his work can be seen in the collections of the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is represented by 23 works, three of which are oils on canvas showing respectively a large blue circle, a large orange circle and a large yellow star on multi-faceted backgrounds, which are each estimated at £500-1,000.

Patrick Dolan was an associate of Francis Bacon. In 1965 he became a member of the Penwith Society of Arts and in 1962 he shared a show with Anthony Shields and Alan Wood at Gallery 60 in Chichester, organised by Rawlinsky Gallery. In 1965, he shared an exhibition with Wood at Queen Square Gallery in Leeds and showed with the Midland Group in Nottingham.

Most valuable among 11 works are four abstract oils on canvas showing respectively a green boat; a swirling abstract composition on a light green ground; another with coloured numbers and a fourth abstract blocks of colours, which are each estimated at £600-800.

However, the most valuable picture in the sale is a more traditional watercolour by George Arthur Fripp (1813-1896), a leading member of the Bristol school of artists. It shows a stag and a deer crossing a Highland stream with mountains in the distance, a work signed and dated 1862 and inscribed by the artist on the reverse “Lachin y Gair ... Braemar”. It is estimated at £2,500-3,000.

The sale also includes the OBE and Italian Medal of Valour and other medals awarded to Nina Hollings, of Frimley in Surrey, who during the First World War ran a mobile X-ray unit on the Italian Front (estimate £800-1,000) and an eight foot long 1:96 working scale model of the aircraft carrier Invincible, which was built by the late Mr Chris Dennison of Compton, near Guildford (estimate £600-1,000). See separate press releases.

Viewing at Ewbank’s Burnt Common auction rooms is on Tuesday March 11 from 10am-5pm and Wednesday March 12 from 10am-8pm. The sale catalogue will be here available approximately six days before the sale.