The Cheffins Fine Sale on the 21st and 22nd April 2021 grossed over £3m at the firm’s sale rooms in Cambridge, as a series of headline lots and exceptional private collections yielded high prices across all sections of the auction.
Amongst the headline lots was a bronze sculpture from the workshop of Renaissance sculptor, Giambologna, which was originally part of Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill Collection and was sold for £1,759,200 to a private, UK-based buyer. This was followed by Thomas Gainsborough’s earliest known self-portrait, which sold for £116,460 to a London-based trade buyer.
Also offered within the Fine Sale was a major collection from a private house in Kensington, and in addition to the Gainsborough self-portrait, this included a series of rare artworks and antiques, such as four early portraits of the Ffolliott brothers, dating back to 1603, which sold for £51,800 to a London-based trade buyer, and a picture by Jean-Baptiste Vanmour and Studio, titled ‘A Dinner given by the Grand Vizier in honour of an Ambassador at the Topkapi Palace, Constantinople’ which sold for £38,850, also into the London trade. Similarly, a French School portrait dating back to 1575 sold for £33,670, whilst also a 17th century study of a goat by Rosa da Tivoli sold for £28,490, well above its £5,000 - £7,000 estimate. Amongst the more modern artworks from the Kensington property, two separate portraits by Chinese artist Zeng Chuanxing sold for £41,440 apiece to two separate buyers, whilst a design for stain glass windows for a church in Newcastle by Sir Edward Burne-Jones sold for £18,130 to a US buyer. The collection also yielded a roman marble torso of Aphrodite, dating back to between 1st century BC and 1st century AD which far exceeded its presale estimate of £15,000 - £20,000, when it sold for £69,930 to a London trade buyer and a Swedish porphyry urn which made £14,245 when it sold to a UK-based trade purchaser. These came alongside important furniture items including a George III satinwood writing table in the manner of Mayhew and Ince which sold for £15,540 to a UK-based trade buyer and a pair of George III mahogany Gainsborough open armchairs which sold for £28,490 to a Continental European buyer.
In addition, there were two other private London collections, sourced from Piccadilly and Belgravia. From Albany there was the collection the late Huburt Faure which included an exciting collection of Grand Tour bronzes and plasters, the total of which came to £131,483. Also offered at the sale were selected contents from a country house in Oxfordshire, amongst the highlights of which were two Chinese vases which had been converted to lamps which made £24,586. Also, sourced from an East Anglian collection, was Edward Seago’s landscape titled ‘Thunder clouds near the coast, Cley, Norfolk’ whiche sold for £49,210 to a private collector.
Martin Millard, Director, Cheffins comments: “This sale encompassed that perfect mix of fresh to market, important and historical works which were bound to draw attention from both the trade and the most serious of private collectors. Sourced from around the country but including substantial private collections from leading addresses in London and also in Suffolk and Oxfordshire, the sale featured high value art, antiques and furniture. Beyond the headlines, were plenty of decorative and unusual pieces throughout every section of the sale, ensuring interest from throughout the UK, Continental Europe and further afield. Whilst certain items such as The Strawberry Hill Ostrich and the Gainsborough self-portrait were bound to sell well, there were a number of other lots which achieved prices beyond expectations, further proving the solidity of the market. Of course, online bidders were out in force, but it was a pleasure to welcome a few buyers back into the Cheffins sale room for what was to become our most successful sale to date.”
The sale grossed a total of £3,121,186.70.
Prices reported are inclusive of buyer’s premium and VAT at 29.4 per cent.
Auction: The Fine Sale – 21st and 22nd April 2021 from 11am
Location: Cheffins, Clifton House, 1-2 Clifton Road, Cambridge, UK, CB1 7EA
Ends
For further information, please contact Sophie Richardson, PR Manager at Cheffins,
t: 01223 271990, e: Sophie.richardson@cheffins.co.uk, www.cheffins.co.uk