32 19th March 2011


art market Treasure Island – latest


■ New tranche of Appleby Collection totals £206,500 at South Kensington


Alex Capon reports


THE word ‘vast’ doesn’t do it justice. The collection of the late Jersey art dealer John Appleby, who lived in what was described as a ‘Channel Islands Treasure House’, has provided Christie’s with so many items that it has already taken nine months and an extended series of sales to distribute them – and there’s still more to come.


The former London dealer who


moved to Jersey in the late 1960s and ran a well-known gallery on the island before he died in 2009, had literally lined the walls of his home with portraits, landscapes and topographical works, as well as keeping chests full of other watercolours, 19th century paintings and Old Masters. Inheriting a large number of


pictures on his father’s death, he came from a long line of dealers operating from London’s Ryder Street, not far from Christie’s King Street headquarters. There has been a long


connection between Christie’s and the Appleby family. However, for the current


generation of auctioneers, selling the collection of around 3000 items has not been without its challenges in terms of cataloguing, transportation and, not least, storage – something hardly helped by the fact that a few works have had to be offered more than once before getting away. But the end is now in sight. While Chiswick Auctions have also


sold a selection of Appleby items, the total generated at Christie’s so far from this selling odyssey is running at a cool £3.2m (with premium). The 300 or so remaining works will be


offered in a number of different auctions over 2011. It all began back last July when the


first selection of ten works from the Appleby collection appeared at Christie’s Old Master evening sale. These were the most valuable lots in the consignment and included an


the Channel Islands and their artists – about which he published a number of books. Indeed, the Appleby collection represented the best collection of Channel Islands pictures to come to market for at least 30 years. Included here were three pictures by


the top Jersey marine painter Philip John Ouless (1817-1885), which followed on from the record of £47,000 seen for a view of St Helier harbour by the artist at CSK’s single-owner Appleby sale in November – pictured and reported in ATG No 1967. These three oil paintings, however,


were being re-offered after failing to sell at the Exploration and Travel sale at King Street sale back in September. Offered here six months later


alongside a range of lower-value material from the Appleby collection, they drew better bidding this time round against considerably reduced estimates. The works themselves were rare


exquisite oil on paper by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728-1781) that made a record £310,000 – the highest individual price from the source. Since then, Appleby works have been


offered at separate Exploration, Travel and Natural History picture sales as well as a specially staged single-owner auction at Christie’s South Kensington (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in November. The latest instalment was the 238 lots


at CSK’s Interiors sale on March 1, where it made up the entirety of the auction’s picture section. As with the previous offerings, the


selection here evoked John Appleby’s great passion for his adopted home with roughly 100 works relating to


representations of the trading routes between the Channel Islands and Canada, a subject which held a particular fascination for Appleby. They were part of a group of five


Ouless works owned by the late dealer depicting vessels from Jersey’s fishing fleet off the Canadian North East coast. One of the five, showing a view


of Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, was donated by the Appleby family to Jersey’s museum, while another of the Great Harbour at La Poele made £40,000 at that same September sale – getting away to the trade on low estimate but setting a then-record and still holding the second highest price for the artist. The other three works did not sell in September against what were deemed


over-ambitious estimates, but they were not without historical interest or painterly quality. Ouless, who trained in Paris and


was the son of an auctioneer, became a highly accomplished marine painter, receiving numerous commissions for ship portraits during the boom period for shipbuilding. While his works predominantly feature


ships in Channel Islands settings, these paintings were of more unusual subjects. The connection between Jersey and


Canada may not be as well known today, but in the early and mid 19th century there was a well-established trade route. Ships from Jersey, laden with


manufactured goods, sailed to the coast of Newfoundland and Quebec selling their cargoes, before loading up with salted cod stocks and travelling down the eastern seaboard to the Caribbean and South America. They would then take aboard rum,


molasses and tropical fruits for their onward journey to Spain and Portugal, before finally returning to the Channel Islands. Indeed, back in the 1790s, Jersey


merchants had established a fishery at Paspébiac and, in the process of generating wealth for themselves, this led to increased settlement on the Canadian seaboard until the trade slowed in the last quarter of the 19th century. These pictures by Ouless dated from


around 1867 – the year the Canadian Confederation was formed – and were in overall decent original condition for their age, although they needed a bit of work. The highest price of the trio at the CSK Interiors sale was for Gaspé Basin,


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