As titans of the Victorian manufacturing industry, the wealth generated by the Huntley & Palmers biscuit empire allowed generations of the Palmer family to indulge their passion for collecting exceptional fine and decorative art.
Victorian silver presentation centrepiece representing the liberal arts, Bracher & Sydenham, Birmingham 1884, £19,000 at Dreweatts.
The fruits of at least some of that collecting were housed at the family home, Bussock Wood near Newbury, which was purchased by Bill and Cherry Palmer in 1963.
On June 4-5, Dreweatts (26/25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) held an auction titled The Palmer Family at Bussock Wood: Four Generations of Connoisseurship.
Pair of late 19th or early 20th century artificial stone models of recumbent lionesses after Coade, £12,000 at Dreweatts.
Day one of the sale was conducted on a room-by-room basis, beginning in the library, followed by the drawing room and so on. Day two focused on Reginald and Lena Palmer’s considerable holdings of Chinese art, elements of which were sold by Christie’s in Hong Kong last year.
Georgian green japanned eight-day longcase clock by John Burges, Gosport with later decoration, £4000 at Dreweatts.
Fine commode
Residing in the drawing room, where it was used to display old family photos and a Regency bracket clock, was a fine mid-18th century George III ormolu-mounted mahogany commode, attributed to the St Martin’s Lane workshop of John Cobb (1715-78) - pictured top.
Conceived in Chippendale’s ‘Picturesque’ French manner, it featured a serpentine outline with keeled foliate-carved angles, surmounted by bronze female terms.
Cobb, with his partner William Vile (1700-67), held a royal warrant from 1761-64 as ‘Cabinet makers and Upholsterers to His Majesty King George III’ to supply furniture to St James’s Palace and The Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace).
The commode offered here, probably executed after 1764, relates to a pair of mahogany commodes from Blickling Hall, Norfolk, and another commode at Alscot Park, Warwickshire that dates from the mid-1760s (for which bills exist).
Overall it was in good clean condition and structurally secure, however the legs had been shortened and the brass sabots reattached, but this did not appear to affect bidding. Estimated at £30,000-50,000, it hammered down at £60,000 to a UK private buyer.
A similar version sold at Christies London in 2019, in The Exceptional Sale, making £110,000, with another sold at Christie’s in November 2022, from the Collection of Lord & Lady Weinstock, realising £75,000. The latter was reoffered at Sotheby’s New York as recently as June 18 with an estimate of $80,000-120,000 but failed to get away.
Poodle’s place
Late 18th century fruitwood dog kennel, £4000 at Dreweatts.
At Dreweatts, one lot that took head of sale Joe Robinson by surprise was an 18th century fruitwood dog kennel (big enough for a poodle).
With panelled sides, a canted roof, and a pierced arch entrance, it came with an interesting provenance. When sold by Spink in February 1933, it had been catalogued as a ‘Charles II walnut dog kennel from the Duchess of Hamilton’s Collection’. With a £400-800 estimate, keen bidding at Dreweatts drove this to £4000.
Louis Vuitton brown leather steamer trunk, used by Lena Palmer on her honeymoon to New York, £7000 at Dreweatts.
Found in the attic was a Louis Vuitton brown leather steamer trunk, c.1925, which had been used by Lena Palmer on HMS Berengaria (label attached) en voyage to New York for her honeymoon. Estimated at £3000-5000, it sold to the UK trade for £7000.
Robinson described the results of the first day of selling as “a telling culmination and celebration of one family’s multigenerational appreciation for quality”.
Kangxi at £144,000
Kangxi famille verte ‘Eight Horses of Mu Wang’ bowl, £144,000 at Dreweatts.
Day two of the sale featured 89 lots of Chinese ceramics and works of art. Kangxi famille verte porcelain was well received.
The highlight was an 8in (21cm) diameter ‘Eight Steeds of Mu Wang’ bowl decorated to the exterior with the horses and charioteer that, according to legend, carried the fifth Zhou emperor to the heavenly paradise. Common to many pieces of Kangxi porcelain, the underglaze blue Chenghua six-character mark to the base is honorific.
Carrying a label for Reginald Howard Reed Palmer, this piece was recorded in his purchase ledger as entry C468, and ‘bought from Yamanaka in March 1937 for £100-0-0’. Here it was estimated at a modest £2000-3000, but it met fierce bidding before selling at £144,000 to an undisclosed buyer.
Kangxi famille verte ‘Birthday Celebration’ vase, £45,000 at Dreweatts.
A textbook 17in (43cm) high period famille verte ‘birthday celebration’ vase had been purchased by Ada Palmer (mother of Reginald Howard Palmer) and left under her will in 1953. It had an estimate of £30,000-50,000 and made £45,000.
Warring States period calcified ‘chicken bone’ jade plaque, £38,000 at Dreweatts.
Another noteworthy lot was an olive-brown ‘chicken bone’ jade belt plaque from the Warring States period (475-221BC). Carved with an openwork design of intertwined chilong dragons, it takes its name from the white calcification covering the entire surface that formed when these jades were burned in archaic rituals. This piece had an auction estimate of £2000-3000 and after spirited bidding, achieved a final hammer of £38,000, selling to an international private buyer.
Lively bidding across both days, from approximately 1000 registered bidders, generated a total £1.96m (inclusive of buyer’s premium) and a 95% selling rate across more than 400 lots.
Some Modern British works from the Palmer collection are reported in this week's Art Market.
