12 28th July 2012 auction reports Many faces of the regions
■ Unrecorded miniatures by Cooper and Dixon and other regional saleroom highlights
Roland Arkell reports
ONLY the day after a specialist sale at Bonhams, the June 29 auction at Strides (15% buyer’s premium) of Chichester included two 3 x 2in (7 x 5.5cm) watercolour-on-vellum portraits by greats of the Commonwealth/Carolean age that trumped anything seen on Bond Street. The cataloguing may have been a
little perfunctory, and the estimates wide of the mark, but these new discoveries, that had come to market from a private house within five miles of the saleroom, stimulated plenty of interest and, ultimately, strong prices. Samuel Pepys makes many references
to Samuel Cooper (1609-72) in his diaries. He tells us the miniaturist was an excellent musician, playing well upon the lute, a good linguist with excellent French, a short, stout man of ruddy countenance and that he charged £30 to paint a portrait of his wife in 1668. Although initially catalogued only
as 17th century English School, when removed from its original brass frame a bust-length portrait of a lady was seen to be signed with the initials SC and dated 1653. With a long waiting list at Cromwell’s ‘court’, Cooper was just as brilliant working for the Commonwealth
Above: two 17th century miniatures sold by Strides. Left: by Nicholas Dixon, £28,000 and right by Samuel Cooper dated 1653, £32,000.
as he was for the restored king. The subject, painted in the year of the so- called Barebones Parliament, wears a pearl necklace and earrings and a brown dress with silk undergarment, her curling dark brown hair falling to the shoulders. It had a little surface damage but, out
of the frame appeared in much better condition. Initially pitched at £1000- 1500, a figure improved to £6000-8000 upon the eleventh hour discovery of the signature, she ultimately fetched £32,000 – a mid-range price for the finest miniaturist of the 17th century. The artist who succeeded Cooper as Charles II’s ‘limner in ordinary’ in 1673
was Nicholas (Nathaniel) Dixon (c.1645- 1708). Although he lacked Cooper’s international reputation, it gives an idea of Dixon’s talent and ambition that he received the same payment and benefits as his predecessor. And, as a result of the wholesale dispersal of Dixon’s stock to John Holles, Duke of Newcastle for £430 (around £35,000 today), some 30 miniatures by the artist remain in the collection at Welbeck Abbey. The miniature seen at Strides, initialled
ND to the reverse, depicted a lady of the Restoration court in her pearls, this time wearing a striking ultramarine gown with a pale blue and lace underslip.
She was deemed the more attractive
of the two subjects and there were some similarities between the sitter and the many surviving portraits of the king’s mistress, Louise de Kerauaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (1673-1734). Prices for Dixon do not, typically, rival
those of Cooper (prices have previously peaked at £20,000 for the portrait of Sir George Wakeman sold at Christie’s in 2004 and more typically hover below £5000), but this was such a good example that bidding reached £28,000. Both miniatures were purchased by a
bidder in the room on behalf of a London art dealer specialising in portraits.
THE PRICE OF NOVELTY IS £5000 The firm of Henry William Dee & Son are well known for their novelty designs. Based at 8 Sherwood Street, Golden Square, London, where the firm were described as manufacturing goldsmiths and jewellers and also as wholesalers of luxury goods, they regularly supplied unusual and quirky items to retailers such as Garrards and Aspreys. This 4½in (11.5cm) high silver inkwell modelled as a somewhat bemused
jockey, and marked for London 1879, is to a design registered at the Patent Office on December 13 of that year. A photograph of the model, and a related design of an equally characterful chap crawling on all fours, survives alongside the patent application – and both were pictured as part of the catalogue description it received at Sworders (20% buyer’s premium) of Stansted Mountfitchet on June 26. It was not in the best condition. It was extremely tarnished – always
Above: a patent filed for a silver jockey inkwell by Henry William Dee & Son. A version of the rare model, shown right, sold for £5000 at Sworders in Essex on June 26.
preferable to over-polishing but here the oxidisation had caused both discolouration and a change in texture to the surface. Inside, the inkwell showed evidence of corrosion, while the catch on the front of the lid (inscribed to the underside A Thomas, 39b Old Bond Street) was broken and therefore the cap did not sit tightly. Nevertheless, it could doubtless be much improved and this is a very
rare model with appeal across a number of different collecting sub- categories. Estimated at £1000, it made £5000.
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