Collections of samplers and ceramics star at Shrewsbury auction
Three samplers dating from the 18th and 19th centuries sold for more than £8,000 for a Worcestershire collector at a Shrewsbury auction last week.
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Art Deco Wedgwood Fairyland lustre and Royal Crown Derby ceramics also grabbed the headlines at Halls Fine Art’s successful pictures, ceramics and collectables auction.
The samplers included a George III needlework example from around 1810 by Helen Ingles, which raced away from its pre-sale estimate to sell for £4,400.
The sampler depicted a country house or cottage with fenced garden surrounded by flowering plants, peacocks and other fauna beneath a floral garland.
Two other samplers sold for £2,000 each. A George II example by Esther Bix. was worked with a spray of roses, wildflowers and foliage surrounded by cruciform patches.
The other George III sampler was made in around 1805 by 14-year-old Maria Thorneycroft and featured three panels with flowering plants and birds, a ship flanked by six marines celebrating Lord Nelson and a country house surrounded by trees, figures and animals.
There was further success for a framed 17th century stumpwork – raised embroidery - fragment, depicting King Charles I standing in a landscape with flora and fauna, a villa and a cottage in the background, also which sold for £2,300.
“The samplers sold well because they were early and quite rare with interesting subjects,” said auctioneer Alexander Clement. “The Worcestershire vendor will be delighted with the prices we achieved.”
Alexander’s colleague Caroline Dennard, ceramics specialist, was similarly pleased with results in her section.
She saw an Art Deco Wedgwood Fairyland lustre punch bowl and vase, both designed by Daisy Makeig-Jones in the 1920s, sell for £2,800 and £2,700, respectively. Both pieces were consigned by a Rutland collector.
A collection of Royal Crown Derby “statement pieces” from a late Shrewsbury collector sold for £4,500. The collection included a pair of large Royal Crown Derby 'Arum Lily' Imari vases, dated 2008, at £1,200, a late 20th century Imari coffee service at £650 and pairs of 'Passiflora' Imari vases and Imari elephants at £500 each.
Other ceramic successes included a pair of 1941 Royal Worcester reticulated vases painted with still lives fruit by Edward Townsend which sold for £1,050 and a scarce John and William Ridgway pail and cover in the 'Pembroke Hall, Cambridge' pattern, circa 1815-20, at £800.
A 'Travel' part dinner and tea service by Eric Ravilious (1903-‘42) for Wedgwood sold for £750, a scarce set of 11 Irish Belleek 'Greek' dessert plates from 1891-1926 made £600, an impressive 1894 Royal Worcester blush ivory vase and cover by Edward Raby made £550 and an 1885 moon flask by Christopher Dresser for Linthorpe Art Pottery found a buyer at £380.
Top prices in the paintings section were £650 for an Italian landscape by an artist in the manner of Jan Frans van Bloemen (1662-1749), £480 and £420 for oils by contemporary artist Adrian Rigby of a peregrine falcon and tawny owl, respectively and £400 for a watercolour by George Arthur Fripp (1813-‘96) of the view from Llanelltyd looking along the Mawddach valley in Mid Wales.
Elsewhere in the auction, the second part of a large pen collection owned by Shropshire collector sold for £1,000.
