A 17th century chest sold for 20 times its estimate to achieve an impressive £16,000 at Chorley’s Spring Country House sale. Chorley’s Fine Art and Antiques sale was a treat for traditionalists with, early oak furniture, Eastern rugs, fine clocks, works of art and model boats and planes from medieval Eastington Hall in Worcestershire. For conversion purposes, one pound roughly equals $1.27.
The most popular lots from the Eastington Hall collection included two 17th-century oak back stools, one carved with the name “Dorothy Garrard” and dated “1685,” the other “Margrat Garrard.” Pieces of named and dated oak are rare, and the “Dorothy” chair is mentioned in Victor Chinnery’s seminal work, “Oak Furniture: The British Tradition.” This small but perfectly formed pair of chairs achieved £6,000. The previously mentioned late 17th-century chest was a walnut and seaweed marquetry bachelor’s chest, which achieved £16,000.
Among the oak that appealed to the decorative market was a tester bed incorporating 17th-century elements, which went to a phone bidder at £7,000, and a pair of Renaissance-style carved oak lions were impressive but tricky to accurately date, nonetheless they found a new home at £6,000.
Some fine clocks attracted interest, including a table clock by Thomas Mercer, St. Albans, in a burr yew case that went for £5,500, and a carriage clock with twin fusee movement by James McCabe, selling for £11,000, over ten times its original £1,000 estimate.
Other properties in the sale yielded some strong results. A watercolor by Georgian satirist Thomas Rowlandson topped the sale at £22,000. This little work depicted, appropriately enough, an auctioneer at Tattersall’s selling a horse. With the usual array of characters clustered in the foreground, it showed “Tatts” as it was when situated in Grosvenor Place, and the picture had the added gloss of having once been in the collection of the Earl of Warwick.
A framed collection of reliquaries once belonging to the Archbishop of Florence made £4,800, and from the jewelry selection, an Art Deco diamond plaque brooch sparkled its way to £4,000.
Chorley’s is a U.K. auction house, based in Gloucestershire. The firm is a member of the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers (SOFAA) and the Association of Accredited Auctioneers (AAA). Chorley’s auctions are held at its rooms on the grounds of Prinknash Abbey, which are broadcast live to online bidders through the platforms the Saleroom and Invaluable.
For more information, email Phoebe Ruffels at phoebe.ruffels@damsonpr.com or visit www.chorleys.com.