A Tea Service with Royal Provenance Stars in Summer Fine Sale

A Sèvres Porcelain Tea Service of Royal Provenance is one of the outstanding lots of Tennants Auctioneers’ Summer Fine Sale on 12^th July. On offer with an estimate of £20,000-25,000 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium), this exquisitely painted service is dated 1820, and comprises a teapot and cover, a sucrier, a milk jug and five cups and saucers, all decorated with portraits of great composers including Gluck, Haydn and Mozart, painted by Jean Georget. Having been completed on 22 September 1821, this service, referred to as Déjeurner des Musiciens Célèbres, was recorded in the archives of the Sèvres factory as originally having six cups and saucers, each costing 500 francs, whilst the milk jug and sucrier cost 600 francs each and the teapot 700 francs. The service remained in the Sèvres factory until it was delivered to King Louis Philippe on 8 December 1831.

Leading the furniture in the sale is a fine George III Carved Mahogany Tripod Table, attributed to Thomas Chippendale. On offer with an estimate of £40,000-60,000, the table features decoration very similar to those found on a table now in the collection of Temple Newsam, Leeds and a pair of candlesticks supplied to Blair Castle in 1758. Thomas Chippendale, who was born in Otley, went on to become the most influential English furniture makers of the 18^th century, working across his career in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo and Neoclassical styles.

An impressive George IV Gilt Bronze Ten-Branch Chandelier in Regencé Style will be sold with an estimate of £20,000-30,000. Made in the early 19^th century by Messenger & Phipson, the chandelier is elaborately decorated in acanthus leaf and rocaille decoration. Messenger and Phipson were one of the most important manufacturers of oil and gas lighting in the 19^th century. Founded in 1835 in Birmingham, they made chandeliers, candelabra, lamps and gas fittings and exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851.  Eye-catching, too is an imposing 19^th century Monumental Carved Marble Model of the Borghese Vase by Randolph John Rogers (1825-1892) measuring 173cm high (estimate: £30,000-40,000). The Borghese Vase is a monumental krater, sculpted in Athens in the second half of the 1^st century BC; made from Pentelic marble, it was made as a garden ornament for the Roman market, and now resides in the Louvre. Randolph Rogers was an American Neoclassical sculptor who spent much of his life living and working in Italy, and who sculpted the Columbus Doors in the Washington Capitol.  

A very good Late 17^th Century Kingwood Eight Day Table Timepiece made by Nathaniel Hodges circa 1685 is one of the highlights amongst a good offering of clocks in the same (estimate: £5,000-7,000). According to records, Nathaniel Hodges was listed as a “Great Clockmaker” and was made freeman of the Clockmakers Company in 1681, but nothing is known of his life after 1687. He worked from Wine Office Court in Fleet Street, found opposite the shop of the renowned Thomas Tompion at the corner of Water Lane in Fleet Street. Another good clock is a Walnut and Marquetry Month Going Longcase Clock made by Philip Corderoy in London in 1690, with provenance from the Estate of the Late Lord Lloyd of Berwick (estimate: £4,000-6,000), and a fine and rare 1000 Year Calendar and Moon Phase Atmos du Millenaire Atlantis Clock by Jaeger LeCoultre, made to celebrate the Millenium (estimate: £6,000-8,000).

The Asian Art Sale, to be held at Tennants on the 11^th July, is led by a Chinese Guan-Type Meiping, possibly Ming (estimate: £7,000-10,000), a Pair of Gilt-Metal Mounted Chinese Porcelain Vases, Yongzheng (estimate: £2,000-3,000), a Chinese Cinnabar Lacquer Box and Cover, Qianlong/Jiaqing (estimate: £1,500-2,000), and a Chinese Gilt and Polychromed Black Lacquer Cabinet, Qing dynasty, Qianlong Period (estimate: £3,000-5,000).

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