Cheffins saw a busy auction room on Thursday, 25th July, as dozens of buyers bid for wonderful artefacts from the Eve Clarke collection, with 97% of the 340 lots sold and a total of £231,000 achieved.
30/07/2024 Collectors' Items, Fine Art
An avid collector and veteran antique dealer, Eve’s collection saw a rich and diverse array of antiques, textiles, furniture and objets du vertu, many of which attracted multiple bids, selling for above catalogue estimates.
This included an elegant stump work picture, dated 1670 and featuring the King and Queen within a landscape with figures, birds and animals (lot 55 - featured image), which achieved a hammer price of £9,500 against a catalogue estimate of £3,000-£6,000, whilst an oil on copper portrait of Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464) and set in an elaborate 17th century baroque carved giltwood frame achieved £3,200 against a guide of £800-£1,200 (lot 28). A group of seven oil on canvas portraits, believed to be children of the Jermyn family of Rushbrooke Hall, Suffolk (lot 288), also achieved a strong sales price of £8,500 against a guide of £800-£1,200.
A portrait of Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464), set in a 17th century baroque carved giltwood frame
Several 19th century items also sold well, including a collection of six Grodnertal type dolls (lot 179), each with painted gesso faces, which went under the hammer for £4,800 against a guide price of £600-£1000. Meanwhile, dolls furniture also achieved high prices with a collection of Erhard & Söhne gilt metal dolls' house furniture and accessories (lot 235) achieving £3,000 against a catalogue estimate of £300-£500. A pair of 19th century carved and gilt gesso recumbent lions (Lot 276), sold for £4,400, whilst a burr-yew Palais Royal necessaire modelled as an upright-piano musical box (lot 250), sold for £1,400.
Moving onto Eve’s 20th century items, a fun Roullet & Decamps papier-mâché and felted French bulldog with nodding head and lead-operated growler mechanism (Lot 192 - pictured below) achieved £950.00 against a catalogue estimate of £300-£500.
Christopher Halls, Director at Cheffins, comments: “Eve was renowned for her rich and sophisticated collection and larger-than-life character, so we anticipated high interest in this sale. What was a delight to see was the high amount of in-room participation. With the advent of technology, the ratio of in-room vs online bidders usually sways towards online, but people really wanted to see and experience this collection in the flesh. I am sure Eve’s family and friends will be delighted with the result and the fact that her wonderful artefacts will be enjoyed by the next generation of collectors.”