The Clifford Henderson Collection of Fine Chinese Armorial Porcelain
As any great collector will testify: passion, commitment, focus, knowledge and undoubtedly inspiration, all play a part in transforming a random group of objects into a collection. This fine collection, rich in history and with some extremely rare pieces, has been painstakingly assembled over a period of forty-seven years and is distinguished in a number of respects.
Pre-eminent among these is its emphasis on armorials with supporters (the heraldic figures and creatures which support a shield on either side) and coronets; in other words, made for prominent members of the aristocracy during a century of commercial prosperity and wealth in England. During the ceaseless trade between England and China in the eighteenth century, some five thousand specially commissioned armorial dinner and tea services were brought back on the merchant ships of the Hon. East India Company. These services are all well recorded, but of them only 11 percent are known to have been made for royalty and the nobility. However, out of 86 individual pieces in this sale, no fewer than 57 have either coronets, supporters or both – indicating the status of their owners in society, who would certainly have ordered only the most fashionable and the best.
Drawn by his initial attraction to their colourful heraldry, Clifford Henderson started collecting English Goss wares at the age of eight. When later seeking a career in the art world, an introduction through his aunt, the picture editor at Connoisseur magazine, led him by fortune to Sotheby’s as an assistant to James Kiddell, legendary mentor to many an enthusiastic student of the decorative arts. From the knowledge gained under the tutorship of Jim, Clifford went on to have a distinguished career in the world of fine art. Meeting my husband, David Howard, in 1971 helped him enlarge his collection to what it is today, and he has remained a friend for many years.
Amongst the lots that follow are pieces which were once owned by the Duke of Gloucester, brother of King George III; the Duke of Anhalt, and also by his daughter Empress Catherine the Great of Russia; the Duke of Lorraine, brother-in-law of Maria Theresa of Austria and uncle of Queen Marie Antoinette; and the 8th Earl of Strathmore, ancestor of the present Queen, the rest of whose service is on display at Glamis Castle. There are examples of no fewer than four of the exceptional services made for Clifford’s own forebears, the Dukes of Grafton, of whom Augustus Fitzroy, 3rd Duke, succeeded Pitt the Elder as Prime Minister of England at the age of 33 in 1768; while a covered milk jug with the arms of the Earl of Egmont was made for the father of Spencer Perceval, the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated in the House of Commons, and a tankard with magnificent armorials was made for William Nassau, 4th Earl of Rochfort and kinsman of William III, ambassador to the courts of Madrid and Versailles. The stories are legion.
Angela Howard West Yatton, March 2011
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