Javelin Thrower Chased Away by a Pair of Elephants...
7th July 2019
Lawrences’s second day of Fine Art sales on July 4th comprised a remarkable variety of items and high prices were paid for items with origins as far apart as Yorkshire and China.
Although Oriental items provided expected highlights, such as a brass censer with lion head handles (£3500), a famille verte charger from the 18th Century (£2500) and a pair of Kangxi style ginger jars and covers (£3750), the outstanding prices were paid for items of European origin. A Meissen bombe snuff box, c.1760, depicted figures in landscapes and made £4750. Two exceptional Art Deco figures in bronze and ivory on onyx bases made prices above expectations: a javelin thrower by Ferdinand Preiss managed to reach £10,000 and a violin player by Paul Philippe reached a similarly high note at £10,000.
The sale’s two top prices could hardly have been more dissimilar: a large (107 x 160cm) oil on board by Hurvin Anderson (b.1965), entitled `Landing` was painted in 1998 and was a graduate work from his final year at the Royal College of Art. Now a darling of the Contemporary British art scene, this formative early work by Anderson made £11,250. A charmingly unusual pair of oak bookends embellished with elephants was made by Robert `Mouseman` Thompson. These early examples of the Yorkshire artist’s style carried the rarer signature style of a recessed carved mouse. The splendid pair attracted over a dozen phone bids and the elephants charged to £12,500.
