A spectacular life-size silver fox, modelled in the late 19th century by famed Victorian taxidermist James Rowland Ward, will be offered for sale with an estimate of £25,000-35,000 (plus buyer's premium) in Tennants Auctioneers' Fine Jewellery, Watches and Silver Sale on 16th November.
The model was presented to Sir Bache Cunard, legendary huntsman and scion of the Cunard shipping family, as a testimonial for his services to hunting in South Leicestershire and was paid for by subscription by members of his hunt. The names of the subscribers were written in a leather book, which is housed in a drawer in the base of the sculpture.
Tennants' silver specialist Jeffrey Lassaline says:
"The job of a silver valuer is always fully of surprises, but I never imagined in my decades of experience I would be entrusted with the sale of such a stupendous and storied object as the Sir Bache Cunard Testimonial. Rarely does an object present itself that combines impeccable quality with such a full and fascinating history as with this testimonial. John Culme, the author of numerous books on silver, describes the fox as “probably the most important item in silver made from Rowland Ward’s own model”, which is an entirely apt tribute".
Sir Bache Cunard, 3rd Bt. (1851-1925) was born into a wealthy family, his grandfather having founded the Cunard Steamship line. His chief delight was sporting and countryside pursuits, but later served as a Justice for the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Leicestershire, where he lived at Nevil Holt Hall and hunted with the Billesdon, of which he became master. The enormous scale of the testimonial shows the esteem in which he must have been held by his contemporaries and is also likely a reflection of his involvement in resolving a rather complicated and notorious dispute of hunting rights over land between the Quorn and Billesdon hunts in 1878.
The fox, which weighs in at an impressive 16kg, is beautifully rendered in a naturalistic 'on the alert' pose and was modelled after a specimen taken by the Billesdon near Ashlands. Having been mounted by a local taxidermist, the modelling was entrusted to James Rowland Ward, whose company Rowland Ward Limited of Piccadilly is rightly regarded as the greatest taxidermists of the late 19th century. The first shop was set up by his father, Edwin, in 1857, but under James’s stewardship it became legendary. As well as his business acumen, James had an artistic flair, with a gift for painting and modelling as demonstrated by the present example.
The fox has been passed down by through the descendants of the Cunard family, and it is currently on display at Tennants Auctioneers, North Yorkshire.
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