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House Treasures

An Important Spring Catalogue Sale

29 & 30 March 2007

Tennants will be selling the residual contents of three important estates from Yorkshire, namely Ravenswick Hall, Kirkbymoorside, the Thornton Collection from York and the selected residual contents of Cayton Hall, South Stainley, near Harrogate.

Ravenswick Hall

Ravenswick Hall near Kirkbymoorside in Yorkshire has been in the Holt family since 1895. It was bought by Harrison Holt, the present owner’s grandfather. Having now sold Ravenswick, James and Mary Holt are now selling a selection of fine antiques from the house. They include a Regency Mahogany Breakfront Bookcase (estimate £4,000-£6,000), a Triple Pedestal Dining Table (estimate £5,000-£8,000 ), a Set of Dining Chairs (estimate £1,500-£2,500 ), a Collection of English and Dutch Blue and White Delft Pottery (estimate from £60-£600) and a dozen highly ornate mirrors (estimate from £200-£800).

The Thornton Collection of Parian (Part I)

This remarkable and extensive collection of Parian figures, busts, vases and table ornaments collected over the last 30 years by Tina and Graham Thornton. They come from all the main factories including Copeland, Minton, Worcester, Wedgwood, Robinson & Leadbeater, Belleek, Derby, Goss, Samuel Alcock & Co, S Rose & Co (Coalport) and J & T Bevington. The collection totals more than 1,200 pieces, many of which are copies of marble statues from antiquity, depicting biblical or literary subjects, or celebrating famous people from political and military history. Estimated prices are from £80-£8,000.

The Cayton Hall Collection

Home to the Gethin and Hudleston families for the last 150 years, Cayton Hall near York housed a fascinating and extensive array or materials and books. Nigel Hudleston, who was born in 1915 and who was its last owner, died in December 2006. He and his late wife, Mary spent many years touring Yorkshire with their tape recorder, collecting the music and words of hundreds of Yorkshire folk songs. These are published (The Songs of the Ridings) with the original recordings archived at Sheffield University.

The residual contents of Cayton Hall are to be sold at auction and include a Prize Fat Cow Milk Churn (estimate £300-£500), a massive Ottoman Couch (estimate £500-£700), a painting of Liverpool Docks entitled ‘The Princes Dock, Liverpool’ by Robert Dudley (exhibited 1880-1893) (estimate £3,000-£4,000) and a large collection of Dutch Delft Tiles (Biblical subjects) (estimate £300-£500).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Thornton Collection of Parian (Part I)

Tina Thornton, being an artist herself, was interested in Parian not only for its artistic merits, but for the fascinating historical value behind the subject matter. Graham Thornton, being an engineer, was particularly interested in the technical side of producing Parian figures and the history of the various manufacturers (which is believed to be in the region of 150).

The Thornton’s best and most treasured finds include:-

A remarkable and probably unique Derby figure of a Crusader Knight holding a swooning Maiden circa 1880, his sword at his side, a quiver of arrows and shield at his feet. Estimate £5,000-8,000

A Water Nymph, after John Thomas by Minton, 1873. A similar figure is illustrated in The Parian Phenomenon, A Survey of Victorian Parian Porcelain Statuary & Busts, edited by Paul Atterbury, published by Richard Dennis, fig.125, pg.82. The original statue was exhibited at the 1861 RA as "Nymph: Property of HM The Queen" is now in the Royal Dairy at Frogmore, shown at the International Exhibition 1862.

Estimate £500-800

A Pedestal Bust of Edward VII, after W C Lawton, Robinson & Leadbeater, circa 1901, in military attire and with surly gaze.

Estimate £600-900

A Bust of Clytie, after the Antique, Belleek, First Period, the voluptuous maiden gazing downwards to dexter, upon a bed of curling leaves. The original Greco-Roman marble is in the Townley at the British Museum.

Clytie, the daughter of a King of Babylon, was forsaken in love by the sun god Apollo because he turned his attentions to her sister Leucothea. Clytie's jealousy caused her sister's death, but, still spurned by the god, she wasted away and turned into the flower that always turns its face towards the sun (possibly the Marigold).

Estimate £500-700

Tennants consider it a great privilege to be entrusted with the careful cataloguing, marketing and sale of this unique collection which will no doubt attract interest from around the world. Parts II and III will be sold later in the year (Summer and Autumn).

Other highlights of the sale include:

Ceramic Treasures

An extremely rare Wedgwood & Bentley Black Basalt Bust of Actor David Garrick (1717-1779). Estimate £10,000 - £15,000

A Liverpool Delft Trade Ship Bowl, 1765. Estimate £5,000 - £8,000

A rare Saltglazed Pottery Masonic Jug, inscribed “Love the Brotherhood”, circa 1750. Estimate £800-£1,200

Paintings

Sean Keating, P.R.H.A.

With art sales in Ireland still booming, Irish buyers will no doubt be interested in an important painting by Sean Keating, P.R.H.A. (1889-1977), which is to be sold at Tennants, North Yorkshire.

He is regarded as perhaps one of the most acclaimed Irish painters in the last century and this painting is expected to create a great deal of interest. Entitled “Ulysses off Connemara”, it depicts West of Ireland people watching a ship sail away to North America and is estimated to sell for £30,000 - £50,000. It comes from a private gentleman in South Yorkshire.

This work compares favourably with the National Gallery of Ireland’s painting entitled “Into the Wilderness”, which can be seen in Dublin.

Sean Keating was born in Limerick, where he received his early training and he later studied at Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. He won the Naylor Scholarship, and then worked with William Orpen in London until 1916. After this, he returned to Ireland where he spent the remainder of his career exhibiting at the Royal Academy, the Royal Hibernian Academy (of which he became president), and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, where this work was exhibited. Keating is represented in many public collections in Ireland and overseas.

Sir John Kyffin Williams O.B.E., R.A., R.C.A. (1918-2006)

This internationally acclaimed Welsh artist has produced some magnificent contemporary works in his own unique style during an illustrious career spanning more than fifty years. Sir Kyffin Williams was at once a pillar of the establishment and a thorn in its side.

An outspoken critic of the contemporary art scene in general, and the Welsh Arts Council in particular, Kyffin Williams painted powerful landscapes and portraits. He described himself as "an obsessive, depressive diabetic epileptic, who’s apprehensive, selfish, intolerant and ruthless."

The painting to be sold at Tennants is entitled “An Anglesey Farm”. It has been in the same family since it was painted and was commissioned by the present vendor’s grandfather, Mr J A Boenders, Esq. who hung the picture in his Anglesey home “Maes-Y-Porth”. Mr Boenders was a friend of the artist and patronised him as did many hundreds of other people in North Wales.

With current trends for purchasing contemporary works being extremely buoyant, this artist’s unique style of painting is particularly popular with collectors. Since his death last year, prices have been exceeding their estimates quite dramatically, and this painting is estimated to sell for £25,000 - £35,000.

Will Roberts (1910-2000)

Another Welsh work of interest is Will Roberts’ “Farm at Neath”. Roberts became a pupil of Josef Herman, who changed from a rather tentative watercolourist to a more expressionist painter in oils. He also painted alongside Martin Bloch and was influenced by the Belgian Expressionist Constant Permeke. The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff holds his work and this example is estimated to sell for £1500 - £2000.

Augustus John R.A. (1878-1961)

The British actress Lydia Sherwood was born in 1906 and got her start on-stage in the mid-1920’s. Her career continued through the '60s. In addition to extensive theatre work on both sides of the Atlantic, Sherwood also made the occasional sojourn into feature films. This oil on canvas portrait of the actress is signed by the artist and is estimated to sell for £5,000-£8,000.

Also from Graham and Tina Thornton come a number of period oil paintings and watercolours of a Pre-Raphaelite nature, including works by William Etty R.A.(1787-1849) and Noel Laura Nisbet R.I. (1887-1956).

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