DESIGN & MODERN CONTEMPORARY 

Liz Winnicott, Head of Department

An exciting year for our design sales, especially for ceramics. The Lucie Rie footed bowl represents the best result for the department this year, showing the enduring appeal of Rie’s ceramics. The spoon warmer is my personal favourite of the year, the Martin brothers are famed for creating some of the most unusual and imaginative ceramics and this guy is no exception.

A late 19^th century stoneware spoon-warmer, circa 1883, modelled as a smiling grotesque chimaera type creature, the base with incised mark R W Martin & Bros London & Southall 1883. 

Sold for £12,500 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

Dame Lucie Rie D.B.E (British 1902-1995) A footed bowl, circa 1980-81, turquoise blue glaze, with dripped manganese rim, impressed artist's seal to foot.

Sold for £41,250 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

WINE, WHISKY & SPIRITS

Paul Fox, Head of Department

It is no secret that the buzz word is of this year and next is whisky, prices have rocketed across the past two decades as single malts attracted both a younger generation and a wider demographic of passionate drinkers. But it is not just whisky that has attracted a new audience. You only have to look at the drinks menu of your local pub to see that the days of house red and two brands of lager are long gone. A variety of wines along with Port, rum, Madeira and liqueurs such as Chartreuse are enjoying a renaissance as consumers expand their palates. With that in mind my favourite lot from this year is a Blandys, Grand Cama de Lobos Madeira, Solera 1864

Sold for £387 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

My top lot for 2022 has to be this Macallan Speymalt, Single Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky, 1940, which sold for £8,228 (Including Buyer's Premium)

INTERIORS, HOMES & ANTIQUES

Liz Winnicott, Head of Department 

With sales every month, there is so much to choose from when looking for a top and favourite lot. The top lot is an easy one, this stunning French ormolu and champleve enamel mounted onyx vase on stand, by Ferdinand Barbedienne. The vase with two intertwined and beaded handles, with a band of champleve enamel flowers and tendrils within geometrical bands, to a turned onyx body, one handle signed F. Barbedienne.

Sold for £31,250 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

My favourite lot for this year comes from a large single owner collection of juvenalia and ephemera, with collectors coming from far and wide to bid on this beautiful collection. This French 'Normandy' style dolls house, made in Germany for the French market c.1880, the rooms all set out to the most minute detail and even included a box marked Christmas decorations.  

Sold for £8,125 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

ASIAN ART

Tiago Cordeiro- Soares, Head of Department 

My favourite lot from 2022 has to be this Chinese Ming Dynasty Cinnabar lacquer tiered box and cover dating to the early 15th century. 

Carved with a scholar and his attendant visiting a recluse in a terraced pavilion, the landscape decorated with banana leaves and an overhanging pine tree sprouting from behind rocky outcrops, the sides carved with four types of blossoming flowers including peonies and chrysanthemums set against dense leafy grounds.

Sold for £10,000 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

The top selling lot for the department was a Chinese famille rose 'Birds' Dish from the Quing Dynasty, Qianlong period. Which realised £81,250 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

The interior finely painted with a pair of birds sitting on a branch observing a butterfly in flight, within a border shaped as six inverse ruyi heads filled with flower heads borne on colourful foliage on a yellow ground. Bearing the three characters Gu, Yue and Xuan, the interior with two seals, together bearing the two characters Qianlong.

DESIGNER HANDBAGS & FASHION

Popsy Kundi, Head of Department

What a year we have had! Our sales have grown, often having to span two days and the demand for luxury goods not only at a preferential price point, but also to acquire things in a sustainable anti fast-fashion way has massively grown. We have also smashed our own in-house records with our top lot, with a Hermes Shiny Black Porosus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 35, selling for £72,500 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

My favourite lot from this year is another beauty from Hermes.  A 1980s Shiny Navy Porosus Crocodile Kelly Sellier 32, with gold plated hardware, which sold for  £10,000 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

ISLAMIC & INDIAN ART

Beatrice Campi, Head of Department

We have had a truly great year. With the fourth instalment from a private collection creating a 100% sold white glove sale. The second for my department, and with the fifth instalment coming in 2023 I am excited to see what results it brings. 

The top lot for my department is a painting of Lakshmana plucking a thorn from Rama's foot, Kangra, Pahari School, Punjab Hills, Northern India, circa 1825 - 1850.  Which sold for £35,000 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

The vertical composition depicting a tender intimate scene illustrating a passage from the Ramayana epic when after hunting in the forest, Lakshmana offers to pluck out a thorn from Rama's foot, Sita fanning Rama with a large leaf, Rama indicating to Lakshmana the point of discomfort in his foot.

My favourite has to be a cast openwork bronze incense burner in the shape of a lion, Eastern Iran or Afghanistan, the body 11th - 12th century, the head, neck, and tail later additions, which sold for £11,250 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

Cast in a zoomorphic feline shape, standing on all fours in a slightly crouched posture, with large rounded paws almost reminiscent of horse hooves, the feline head hinged to the chest and opening towards the front, the face with several striking details including protruding, pointy, bared fangs, chased whiskers, a ridged nose, hollow almond-shaped eyes, and curved ears with rounded ends, the mane and neck decorated with an openwork band of knotwork and floral designs.

PRINTS & MULTIPLES

Elizabeth Wormald, Head of Department

A new and fresh department for Chiswick. With a really great start in 2022, I am excited for what 2023 will bring. An original Print or Multiple is a unique work, designed only to be produced as a limited edition. From Durer, to Picasso and Banksy, editioned works are produced by the most influential artists. These mediums are often of huge importance in an artist’s creative output, and for some can make up a large proportion of their body of work.

The best result for a print for 2022 is Damien Hirst, Psilocybin, 2013. Which sold for £12,500 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

The mesmerizing artwork ‘Psilocybin’ is a digital lenticular print on PETG plastic. A playful take on Hirst’s iconic spots motif, the work shifts as the viewer moves, creating a visual effect of the spots moving from one side to the other that captivates the viewer. The brightly coloured spots are perhaps Hirst’s best-known motif as they aim to capture ‘the Joy of colour’ with never-repeating sequences of colour.

My personal favorite from the year is a Bridget Riley screenpring on wove, Titled Sideways, 2010. Numbered 103/250 in pencil. Sold for £8,125 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

FINE RUGS & CARPETS

Mark Lampe, Head of Department

2022 has been a very successful year indeed for sales of carpets and rugs, with the results achieved surpassing that of previous years. 

The most expensive item, sold this year was a fine Tabriz carpet, North-West Persia, large size and great overall design with very well blended colours. You seldom find this type at auction. It sold for £15,750 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

My personal favourite of the year is an Antique Bakshaish carpet, North-West Persia, sold for £15,000 (Includes Buyer's Premium) Amazing design and beautifully balanced piece, a great example for this type.

Beautiful example for this type with very good colour combination and bold appearance, great furnishing carpet and very attractive.

RARE BOOKS & WORKS ON PAPER

Clive Moss, Head of Department 

It has been a great year in the book depatment. Without question the most successful lot was this 1st edition, first issue Casino Royale by Ian Flemming. The Presentation copy was inscribed by the author to ‘Paul [Gallico] from Balzache. 1953’ to front endpaper, it sold for £62,500 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

An extremely good copy of the author's first novel to one of his best friends, which led Fleming to ask Gallico to read the first transcript. With a play on the word ‘balls/ache’ (possibly?). They were known as great drinking buddies.

 Linschoten. Voyasie, ofte Schip-vaert, & Itinerarium. 1644 & 1624, was my favourite lot of the past year. Voyasie, a rare description of pioneering Arctic voyages in search of the North-East Passage to China. The second edition can be identified by the spelling of 'Voyasie' on the title-page, and the fact that the 15 double-page plates of maps each have binding placement instructions in the lower right-hand corner of each plate. 'Both the 1601 (first edition which has never appeared at auction ) editions are scarce' (Ginsberg).

Sold for £55,000

Includes Buyer's Premium 

AUTOGRAPHS & MEMORABILIA

Valentina Borghi, Head of Department 

WATCHES

Tomas Aznar, Head of Department 

OLD MASTERS PAINTINGS & WORKS ON PAPER

Dr Albert Godetzky

2022 saw a variety of sales including private collections and a number of works on paper. My favourite two from the year however are both paintings. The first and top lot of the year is a 16th century Portrait of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese 1468-1549) Sold for £13,125 (including Buyer's Premium)

Stylistically influenced by Raphael’s well-known Portrait of Pope Julius II of 1511-12 (National Gallery, London, NG 27), the present painting may have once featured the head of a different Pope suggested by areas of abrasion on and around the face. The current sitter was identified according to an old label on the reverse.

My second choice for the year is Apollo in Parnassus - a sketch for a ceiling by Sir James Thornhill. This painting, emerged from the private collection of a renowned art historian and unseen on the market for decades.

From the collection of Sir Lawrence Gowing CBE RA, by whom acquired in the 1950s, previously exhibited in London, Guildhall Art Gallery, Sir James Thornhill, June-July 1958, no. 1.

Sold for £8,750 (including Buyer's Premium)

MODERN BRITISH & IRISH ART

James Flower, Head of Department

This year we renamed the Modern British and post war art department to incorporate Irish art also. The first sale of the year encompassed an exclusive range of works which span across several decades, throughout much of the 20th century to the present day, featuring paintings, sculpture and works on paper. And from that I have chosen wo particular pieces that I was thrilled to offer to the market. 

When Craigie Aitchison first witnessed Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dali he embarked on a lifelong obsession and fascination with the subject. He first viewed the painting in 1951, after it was acquired by the Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. The artist’s vivid and modern interpretation of the crucifixion would form a huge part of his oeuvre and a subject he became synonymous with.

My personal favourite though is Adrian Allinsons Bowl of Flowers, 1921. Sold for £4,750 (Includes Buyer's Premium)

JEWELLERY

Sarah Duncan, Head of Department