Chinese Bowls Sell for £90,000

A pair of fine Chinese Porcelain Yellow Ground Medallion Bowls sold for £90,000 (plus buyer’s premium) in the Autumn Fine Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 11^th November, having attracted competing bidders from across the world. Bearing the Daoguang mark and made in the second quarter of the 19^th century, the finely made bowls were painted in enamels with scenes of a goat, a sheep, and a ram. From the same collection came an early 19^th century Chinese Porcelain Table Screen, painted in famille rose enamels with figures in a fenced garden, which smashed the £700-1,000 estimate to sell for £38,000. Also selling well in a strong Asian Art section was a Japanese Gilt and Patinated Bronze Temple of the Meiji period, which sold for £4,800.

Good furnishing and decorative pieces of furniture in the sale were in demand, with a finely made late 19^th century Louis XVI Style Amaranth, Bois Satine, Oeil de Vermeil, Marquetry and Ormoulu-Mounted Bureau Plat et Cartonnier bearing the stamp of Paul Sormani of Paris selling for £19,000. A French Mahogany, Kingwood, Parquetry-Decorated and Ormolu-Mounted Cylinder Bureau in the Transitional style after the model by Jean-Henri Riesener sold for £8,000. Also selling well were a late 19^th century French Renaissance Style Carved Giltwood Bijouterie Table (sold for £1,700), and a White and Grey Carrara Marble Circular Pedestal Table from the late 19^th/early 20^th century (sold for £1,900). Good early walnut and practical pieces of oak furniture performed well, with a George I Burr Maple, Rosewood-Crossbanded and Pewter-Strong Cabinet on Chest from the early 18^th century selling for £3,200, and a George III Oak Dresser from the late 18th century selling for £2,800. Finally, pieces with good provenance attracted strong interest, with two notable lots sold on behalf of the Terry Family of York (Terry’s Chocolates); a George II Carved Giltwood Trumeau Overmantel Mirror, incorporating a painting of an Italianate Landscape by a follower of John Wootton (sold for £4,800), and a George II Oak, Boxwood and Ebony-Strung Enclosed Dresser (sold for £6,000). Further lots from the Terry Family will be included in the Country House Sale in January.

A rare French Gilt and Patinated Metal Automaton Quarter Deck Striking Clock made by Guilmet of Paris circa 1890 led the offering of clocks in the sale, selling for £6,800. The clock featured an automaton in the form of a sailor at the helm, rocking side to side with the swing of the pendulum. This was followed by a fine One Day Marine Chronometer with an interesting naval history, which sold for £3,500. Made by John Roger Arnold in London circa 1825, the chronometer was one of circa 90 purchased from Arnold by the Observatory at Greenwich. An interesting Thirty Hour Carved Oak ‘Coffin’ Cased Longcase Clock, made circa 1695 sold well at £3,500. The clock was purchased from Brian Loomes, a widely published author in the field of antique clocks and is one of only very few surviving examples of these types of clocks in their original cases. A good Mahogany Eight Day Longcase Clock signed William Newby, Kendal, circa 1770 and housed in a case probably made by Gillow of Lancaster sold well, too, at £2,200.

Further highlights of the sale included a late 17^th century Brass and Steel Cavalier Detector Lock, made by John Wilkes of Birmingham (sold for £7,000), a Kashan Silk Carpet made in Iran circa 1930 (sold for £3,200), and two rarities of English pottery and porcelain, a Pratt-Type Figure of a Young Bear made circa 1800 from the collection of the late Stanley J. Seeger (sold for £2,500) and a Worcester Porcelain Coffee Can, circa 1756 (sold for £700).

The sale achieved a total hammer price of £524,270 with an 83% sold rate for 442 lots.

View Results